"Redacted" stuns Venice (Brian De Palma Film Iraq War)

[RamboLiberal]

Source: Reuters

A new film about the real-life rape and killing of a 14-year-old Iraqi girl by U.S. soldiers who also murdered her family stunned the Venice festival, with shocking images that left some viewers in tears.

"Redacted", by U.S. director Brian De Palma, is one of at least eight American films on the war in Iraq due for release in the next few months and the first of two movies on the conflict screening in Venice's main competition.

Inspired by one of the most serious crimes committed by American soldiers in Iraq since the 2003 invasion, it is a harrowing indictment of the conflict and spares the audience no brutality to get its message across.

De Palma, 66, whose "Casualties of War" in 1989 told a similar tale of abuse by American soldiers in Vietnam, makes no secret of the goal he is hoping to achieve with the film's images, all based on real material he found on the Internet.

"The movie is an attempt to bring the reality of what is happening in Iraq to the American people," he told reporters after a press screening.



Read more: http://today.reuters.com/news/articlenews.aspx?type=entertainmentNews&storyid=2007-08-31T150344Z_01_L31903844_RTRUKOC_0_US-VENICE-IRAQ.xml&src=rss&rpc=22&sp=true

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I'm putting this one on my must see list!

[rox63]

1. I wonder if the * admin will let it be shown in the US?

Probably not.

[RamboLiberal]

3. Question is will the Chain Theaters show it

But even then there are still some independent theaters that will show it. And it will get out on DVD.

[KansDem]

4. I don't know...I'm still waiting for "Kurtlar vadisi - Irak"

imdb

[Blue_Tires]

9. lol...that user comment at the bottom is chock-full of irony

I hope to see the De Palma film...I've always been a big fan of his, and thought "Casualties of War" was a very underrated movie that got lost in the HUGE glut of Vietnam movies in the 80s

[Scairp]

21. I saw that movie once

I have never watched it again. The brutality is too real and too much for me.

[aggiesal]

12. King George will deem that anyone who views this movie ...

will be aiding the enemy.
And with the new law that states anyone supporting any organization that aids the enemy,
the King can now confiscate all your finances.

[3waygeek]

22. I've seen lots of commercials

for this film on HDNet the last week or two; IIRC, Mark Cuban's studio is releasing it in the next couple of months.

[xchrom]

2. good.

[shadowknows69]

5. Wow kudos to DiPalma

If the media won't tell the truth of things at least we can depend on brave directors to do it.

[daleo]

6. I remember "Casualties of War"

A very good film - as I recall, Micheal J. Fox did an excellent job in the lead role. It certainly brought home the realities of war.

Of course, that was at a fairly safe historical distance from Viet Nam. This is much more current, so I wonder how it will be accepted by U.S. audiences and the film industry.

[IndianaGreen]

25. A very underrated performance by Michael J. Fox

particularly when his buddies tried to frag him. Just like the way it is in war.

[midnight]

7. Unfortunately the visual would be something I would not be able

to watch. Instead, I keep a sign in my yard that says "Bring Them Home". Maybe after more people in my community see this movie they might agree.

[txaslftist]

8. People always act surprised at this stuff.

Read a history book. This happens in every single war in history, and is inflicted by every army in history. If you start a war thinking your soldiers won't do this, you are hopelessly naive.

War is atrocity.

[Trajan]

26. I dont think it is a matter of people being surprised

But instead of many not really knowing .....

You aren't offering your plaint of naivete as a justification or rationalization of these acts, are you ?

War is atrocity, AND wrong, whether people are ignorant of the facts or not .....

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

27. READ HISTORY?

Might as well have pie in the sky.

[Kagemusha]

10. This is likely the only accountability any of the guilty will actually get.

It is for such purposes that freedom of speech exists.

[dailykoff]

11. Exists in Venice, anyway.

Venice was famous for its freedoms before Amerigo Vespucci (a Florentine) laid eyes on our fair continent.

[OneAngryDemocrat]

13. I have Looked & Looked...

But I can't find any film trailers, nor stills, from the flick...

(That's not ENTIRELY correct - YouTube had a fan-created video uploaded, and though it is quite good - it's still not the offical trailer)

I'd like to add the REAL trailer to my anti-war website, if there's one out there.

Could someone help a brother out?

www.shockedandawful.com

[progressoid]

14. And it will be seen by???

Unfortunately, the people that need to see this, won't.

[MetaTrope]

15. Steven Green's trial "may" begin next year

http://www.kentucky.com/471/story/163037.html

A federal judge says it will take at least a month to try a former Fort Campbell soldier for killing four members of an Iraqi family and raping a 14-year-old girl before taking her life.

U.S. District Judge Thomas Russell says the trial of Steven Green will probably be held in the summer or fall of next year.

The trial will be held at the federal courthouse in Paducah. Russell said yesterday he has delayed setting a trial date while the U.S. Department of Justice reviews evidence for national security before it is shared with Green's attorneys.

Care to bet this trial won't actually take place until after the next presidential election?

[THUNDER HANDS]

16. is this unusual?

I mean, a lot of Vietnam movies came out in the 80's, about a decade after the war ended. A lot of WWII movies came out years after that war ended - i mean, the one's that weren't put out by the government.

Was there ever a time that non-propoganda war films came out during a war?

[Bragi]

17. Fahrenheit 9/11. 2004. (Still "unusual", though) /NT

[THUNDER HANDS]

20. well, i meant before this war

were there anti-Vietnam movies that were released during Vietnam, or at least, the first 5 years of the war?

[FredScuttle]

18. "all based on real material he found on the Internet"???

Does that mean we'll be seeing Leeroy Jenkins and the Numa Numa kid in the film?

[Vidar]

19. Bravo Mr. De Palma!

[Solly Mack]

23. Americans,... far too many...don't want to know

Bravo, Mr. De Palma!

[hisownpetard]

24. When Bush dies, I wonder if his tombstone will be blank (all pertinent information

such as name and dates of birth and death having been redacted, as was
his custom).