Redacted (2007)

 

            “Redacted” was directed and written by Brian De Palma. It’s a companion of his “Casualties of War”. This time the war crime occurs in Iraq. He based his screenplay on the Mahmudiyah killings in Mahmudiyah, Iraq. The movie cost only $5 million to make and it flopped, making only $782,000.

            PFC Salazar (Izzy  Diaz) enlists in the Army with the goal of eventually going to film school. He plans on making a documentary that he hopes will get him into the school. He carries a videocamera when he goes on patrols and other duties. One day when on duty at a checkpoint, Salazar is filming when an Iraqi car comes speeding up to the check point. PFC Flake opens fire, killing the pregnant woman who was being rushed to the hospital by her brother. Flake did not fire any warning shots, but the killing is declared justified by the rules of engagement. Flake shows no remorse, even when interviewed by Salazar for his film. Later, a popular sergeant is killed by an IED which puts the platoon on edge and looking for payback. Flake and another soldier make plans to visit a house where they noticed an attractive teenage girl. Salazar goes along to film even though it is apparent a war crime is likely.

            De Palma’s “Casulties of War” is a good movie with a similar plot about an actual war crime in Vietnam. This movie is nowhere near as good. It lays it on much thicker than the earlier film. De Palma has lost his game. The screenplay is ham-handed and shrill. The acting is amateurish by an unrecognized cast. It is supposed to be all footage from Salazar or a French documentary crew, but clearly some of it is not. So much for the gimmick. The raid is hard to swallow. Salazar comes along to film and Flake allows him to!

            Clearly, De Palma was trying to shine a light on American mistreatment of Iraqi civilians. God knows there was some, so the story is not clearly fictional. However, the execution dilutes the message with overt anti-Americanism. It doesn’t help credibility that the movie ends without a conclusion. It is not a surpise the film made no mark at the box office.

 

HISTORICAL ACCURACY:  The actual incident was worse than the film depicted. Flake was based on PFC Steven Green who was just flatout evil. He and four others raped the girl and killed her family. The story was passed on secondhand by a soldier who heard it from a soldier that Green told the story to. In a scene reminiscent of “Casualties of War”, the soldier was reamed by his commanding officer for ratting out other soldiers. He was told to drop it, but didn’t. The five were eventually arrested and all got long prison terms. Green committed suicide in prison.

            De Palma was criticized for depicting American soldiers in a poor light and conservatives encouraged Americans to boycott the film. The movie certainly is not pro-American, but it does not exaggerate what bad soldiers did in Iraq. And it is based on an actual incident. De Palma did not make up the incident. He used it to shine a light on American actions. Were Green and the other four typical? Of course not. But neither were the soldiers in “Casualties of War”. The big mistake De Palma made was not mentioning that justice was served in this case. Unlike in “Casualties”. And he may have had blood on his hands because of that. Because one result was a gunman killed two American soldiers in Frankfurt in 2011. He claimed he was getting revenge for a YouTube video he saw of American soldiers raping a teenage Iraqi. The video was a clip from the movie.

 

GRADE =  C