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So much average

Best movie ever!

Admirable film.

I cannot think of one single thing that I would change about this film. The acting is incomparable, the directing deft, and the writing poignantly brilliant.

On the 12th of March 2006 five American soldiers of the 101st Airborne walked in to a house outside the village of Yusufiyah in Iraq and murdered a mother , a father and a six year old child . After this they took turns to rape the fourteen year old daughter before killing her . This crime became known The Mumudiya Killings . This shocking crime was later turned in to a compelling book by Jim Frederick entitled Black Hearts in 2010 . Three years prior to this Brian DePalma made a highly fictionalised account called REDACTED DePalma doesn't seem an obvious choice for this type of story since he has a highly idiosyncratic camera style . That said he did make CASUALTIES OF WAR which was thematically very similar to this REDACTED though be it set in Vietnam rather than Iraq . The director's cinematic style is entirely different from what we've been used to for many years . Here instead of a camera voyeuristic moving around we have a cinema verite style complete with internet clips and a cast involving unknown actors ad-libbing The unfortunate thing is that DePalma seems way out of his depth . He fails to develop the story in anyway . Reading the Frederick's book you're aware of the brutality B Company 501st Infanrty Regiment 101st Airborne Division were experiencing with a casualty rate similar to that experienced during the Second World War . Regardless of your opinion of the war ( I was against it ) it is essential reading for the often incomprehensible nature of an insurgency conflict . REDACTED fails to give anything about the background or the context of what might have led to this type of atrocity against innocent civilians . The platoon in question see one of their comrades killed but apart from that there's no real inciting incident , there's no real character motivation and that's the fundamental failing of the film The second major failing is that the actors are fairly dreadful but I should qualify this by saying it's almost certainly not their fault because their characters have the depth of rice paper . None of this is helped by having to spontaneously spout dialogue off the top of their heads . Make no mistake you can see DePalma shouting through a loudhailer" okay you're a soldier in Iraq so pretend you're in a war-zone and ... ACTION " . This type of acting style might work in British social dramas but not in a plot driven American war film and it shows This is a very sensitive , harrowing subject matter for a film and it deserves some reverence to say the least. It's almost certain if this film is to go by that DePalma was against the war in Iraq and it's perhaps not surprising that many people who have praised REDACTED are similarly against the invasion. Regardless of my own politics I can only comment on it as a movie fan and this is a fairly poor film . One can only hope that if Hollywood get round to adapting Black Hearts they can do the full story justice for the sake of fourteen year old Abeer Qasim Hamza and her family in a conflict that saw aid workers being decapitated on the internet by insurgents

I'm sorry, but I'm left of Lenin liberal. I am against the war and how it is propagated, and am aghast at the heavy handed, insensitive tactics and attitude of the US soldiers that I've witnessed in Iraq.however, this movie doesn't depict that. Rather, it represents the US soldier as a one dimensional cartoon, stupid beyond stupid. The caricature can only appeal to ardent anti-Americans (as we have seen in these comments) and utterly repel people who might otherwise have an open mind (as we've also seen in these comments). One soldier actually says "Waxing hajis is like stepping on cockroaches." I'm sorry - that simply does not happen and has not happened. The Americans are a lot of things, but cold blooded psychopaths is not one of them. However, the movie doesn't stop there - it turns them into criminal pedophile rapists too.If the acting and script were much much much better than they are, the film might just pass for insightful satire - much like Apocalypse now "overdid" the Vietnam war to draw attention to its absurdities and its effects on the psyche of all involved. However, this movie fails miserably in these aims. The actors are awful - just awful. They don't resemble US soldiers in physical appearance or mannerisms. Each one screams "low budget, effeminate Hollywood extra." It doesn't help that the script turns them into the most cardboard of caricatures. Honestly, at some point I expected them to start eating kittens.The political message it tries to make is needed and all in all decent. However, the acting stinks and the script is poorly written so that it just comes across as so very staged and fake.This movie has been deservedly forgotten. "Three Kings", which is about the first Persian gulf war, ironically is still the best movie as of this writing about the second Persian gulf war even though the second of course started years after "three kings" was made. Such is the paucity on quality film on the Iraq War (and, before you think anything, I thought "Hurt Locker" was pretty awful too).

The medium is the message, so said Marshall McLuhan. This means of course that our reaction to news is dependent on how it is presented. We seeing is often more believable than reading for example.McLuhan would easily admit the Redacted is flawed, but at the same time he may just praise it for proving his point. Brian de Palma's latest film takes him away from what he has done for pretty much his entire career. This motion picture is very much a case of substance over style (not the other way around). Well I wouldn't say it has no style. de Palma still relies on a visual format to help, but this is new terrain for him. Redacted is a multimedia recreational documentary of events surrounding a gang rape in Iraq where a pair of US soldiers sexually assaulted and killed a fifteen year old girl. They were later turned in by their buddy who refused to take part. He got the news out on a Youtube video wearing a mask.At first glance, Reacted appears as a black-and-white statement; an anti American dis- approval of the war in Iraq. Even when one stops to think for a moment, it is still hard to deny that the film is against the war, but it is NOT necessarily anti American. De Palma is open to giving an explanation for why these boys would resort to such behaviour. It is not because they are dumb or under educated, but more because after spending so long so far away from home in dreadful conditions, they begin to loose a sense of humanity. There is a difference between being an ass and being crazy.Redacted's problem I think is not so much a question of smarts, but a question of set-up. The introduction feels too much like a Godard movie. De Palma's decision to use clips of a French documentary for setting exposition make the beginning seem kind of muddled and unclear. What is this movie about? the people or the place? Redacted's multi media approach has a very visceral effect on the viewer, but its side effect is that it is ill equips for story telling, due to a sense of choppiness. One of the downsides of realism, which I have never been partial to, but this one, is actually pretty good. I think it is educational, and strong enough to recommend

Decent film. disturbing behavior by a few psycho u.s soldiers. i thought this film was going to be one sided. but DePalma manages to keep an opened mind. he also show the sides of the good soldiers who are just afraid to intervene, who suffers from images of death and violence. these people are struggling with their conscience on a unimaginable level. but it is and must be a little frustrating that incidents such as this one reflects on the whole army and not just the ignorant people involved. the photo montage named collateral damage(real pictures from the war) was disturbing and powerful. it was heartbreaking to see those pics, especially the ones with dead kids and babies. i understand DePalmas motives of making this film. the fact is war is hell and i dislike it. but in this day and age it is a necessity we can not ignore.