Redacted: The New Brian DePalma Iraq War Film Waht Will Shock Us All

whenever i hear about a potential conflict, say, samuel l jackson in a boorman film, washington in a demme film, de palma using digital video in a leftist iraq film, etc, i always look forward to see which way he goes.

Hmmm ...

No, sir. I don't like it. But give me a couple hours.

Watched it yesterday. The first part was so good I was prepared to be all "THE CRITICS DON'T GET IT" but once the Casualties Of War plot kicked in things got haywire fast. Casualties Of War wasn't ABOUT "nam," but about a soldier's moral dilemma. This film is so macro in goal that the rape plot just bogs it down in micro elements, most horribly when the rapists give long nutso rants in front of static security cams. Kael noted in her Scarface review that he's great when he's filming actions but two people in front of a static camera and he's totally inept, and that's SO true here.

Instead of revamping Casualties Of War, he should have gone for Hi, Mom! Focusing more on the broader absurdity in the media than the fact that drunken assholes who probably rape in peacetime too are given guns when sent off to die in Iraq. It kind of reminds me of Mickey Rourke screaming "IT'S VIETNAM ALL OVER AGAIN!" while trying to clean up Chinatown in Year Of The Dragon. DePalma's got more cause but his anger is making him really clumsy.

does he hate America?

"The war allows RAPE to happen!" as a thesis is offensive both ways, because a. the war would still be awful if it didn't and b. people get away with rape all the time.

x-post he hates the SYSTEM

is 2 DePalma pans in a row a record for Eric?

both movies have moments so startling and excellent that I'll still run off to see the next one, but I'm worried Femme Fatale's going to wind up THE DePalma film of the decade.

or, as Jonathan Rosenbaum said ... of his career.

Instead of revamping Casualties Of War, he should have gone for Hi, Mom!

When I write this up, I intend to discuss the film's biggest faux pas: restaging the "Be Black Baby" sequence as this film's rape centerpiece. I hate to agree with Armond here, but at least as far as that sequence (and just about everything that follows) goes, his (Armond's) outrage is totally justified.

is 2 DePalma pans in a row a record for Eric?

Didn't actually PAN Dahlia other than to say it was not up to his standards. I haven't seen Wise Guys, but I'm sure that up against The Untouchables is a far more unrewarding twofer, though Redacted is probably the worst of the lot.

Oh, and Femme Fatale is clearly going to be the De Palma film of the decade. That's not really a bad thing.

yeah, I realized that after I reminded myself of what he did in the 90s.

anyone care to opine on Bonfire of the Vanities? It's the only nineties De Palma I haven't seen. Is it worth another look? I saw the poster. Bruce Willis had hair!

It's nothing special.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=RkPDjqbPIu8

My mom was a huge Tom Hanks fan through about Apollo 13, all his 80s-early 90s shit was in our VHS collection so I saw this movie quite a few times as a kid. Really hollow, not very DePalma-y. I REALLY need to get my hands on The Devils Candy again, as I read that book before I became a huge fan of his.

http://m1.2mdn.net/viewad/1639505/vertical4.gif

perhaps this will be of comfort to BdP: Do you know what that John Cusack Iraq war-widower movie that came out last month pulled in, total, during a December run in about 7 theaters?

$36,613. Total. Random home movies could do that.