Casualties of War is a 1989 war film directed by WGA Award-winning director Brian De Palma. The film was written by David Rabe, based upon the book by Daniel Lang of the same name. The movie stars Michael J. Fox as Eriksson, a soldier stationed in southeast Asia during the Vietnam War. He is determined to bring his fellow squadron members to justice after they do horrible things to a young Vietnamese girl.
Plot Synopsis
Casualties of War tells the story of Eriksson, played by Michael J. Fox, and Sgt. Tony Meserve (played by Sean Penn), who are two soldiers in southeast Asia during the Vietnam War. Meserve orders his men to invade a small village and retrieve a Vietnamese girl (Thuy Thu Lee), who is later bounded, gagged and gang-raped by the soldiers, except Eriksson. Horrified and disgusted by the incident, Eriksson tries to bring his fellow squadron members to justice.
Cast
Michael J. Fox as PFC. Eriksson
Sean Penn as Sgt. Tony Meserve
Don Harvey as Cpl. Thomas E. Clark
John C. Reilly as PFC. Herbert Hatcher
John Leguizamo as PFC. Antonio Diaz
Thuy Thu Le as Tran Thi Oanh / Girl on Train
Erik King as Cpl. Brown
Jack Gwaltney as PFC. Rowan
Ving Rhames as Lt. Reilly
Dan Martin as Hawthorne
Dale Dye Capt. Hill
Vyto Ruginis as Prosecutor
Al Shannon as Wilkins
Wendell Pierce as MacIntire
Sam Robards as Chaplain Kirk
Darren E. Burrows as Cherry
Sherman Howard as Court Martial President
John Marshall Jones as MP (as J.J.)
Holt McCallany as Lt. Kramer
Reviews
"A powerful metaphor of the national shame that was America's orgy of destruction in Vietnam, Brian De Palma's film deals directly with the harrowing rape and murder of a Vietnamese woman by four GIs."—Variety Staff, Variety Magazine http://www.variety.com/review/VE1117789773.html?categoryid=31&cs=1
"Casualties Of War is one of those films where one performance brings down the entire exercise."—Jamie Giles, Apollo Movie Guide http://www.apolloguide.com/mov_fullrev.asp?CID=3737
"...De Palma steers a steady course through a war that continues to divide a nation. This is a portrait of hell so harrowing it's impossible to shake."—Peter Travers, Rolling Stone Magazine http://www.rollingstone.com/reviews/movie/5947383/review/5947384/casualties_of_war
