Redacted

(*caution may contain spoilers)


Many critics and pundits are slamming this new film from Brian Di Palma.

I guess that's what makes the world go round.

You have to let go of the Hollywood that spews action and shoot em ups, and an endless stream of crap to fill theaters, to titillate and wow, for just one minute. And try and remember back to the old days when making films was an art form.

This is a Reubens, a Da Vinci. Every frame, every shot, every sound, every moment of the score is in service to this work. It is a masterful work in a medium of film. The fact that he builds his masterpiece using only the modern day 'video sources' to weave his story, a hand held camera, a documentary, news broadcasts, interview and security cameras, night vision video from an embedded reporter, even an inspired use of insurgent websites, video chat and 'You Tube' like sites to tell his story is itself a cinematic achievement for a director who has many decades of making hits for Hollywood, and could have made this film any way he wanted to.


Di Palma deserves a lot of credit and admiration , one for taking such a risk, and two for pulling it off.

The fact is, these are not hand held cameras, security cameras, or real websites, this is a film by an extraordinarily accomplished director, each frame is labored over and carefully crafted you can be sure. This was not a cheap way for hack director to 'seem' innovative and cutting edge. Instead he proves that at his age, he is still cutting edge and relevant, a master storyteller. His work here will be studied and copied be sure of that as well.


He takes you through the entire story without once letting you 'see' the Hollywood cameras. The result is organic and familiar yet unique and sets the piece into a zone somewhere between reality and fiction. A hyper reality, you get the newscasts , and the fictional documentary film, the home video, and the Internet. You taste the boredom and tedium of these soldiers working this obscure checkpoint, day after day after day, you taste the dust, you see the sweat, these soldiers without any real idea of why they are there or what their mission is, and the Iraqis they encounter who have no idea what to expect or do either, how to behave, how to survive under this kind of occupation, and the enemy, shrouded and unknowable, intangible yet ever present. Our five protagonists 'experience' the enemy but it seems like there is no one to shoot back at, the enemy is a ghost, they can only dream of killing.

War, a world in which the rules are ambiguous and make no sense, thrown out, and often changed in the middle of the game, in one scene the group learns they have been stop lossed into staying past their deployment time.

Into this vast moral morass sometimes all you need to do is throw in one 'wild card' and the results ... well the results can be unspeakable brutality.

This not Di Palma's story, this is a real story, it is Di Palma's illumination of this story. His vision, his revelation, his inspiration to produce this piece of artwork, Di Palma is at the end of a long hot day simply an artist, film is his medium.

I am also flabbergasted that they pan the cast. All five of the young leads in this film will go on to do big things, and I guess that's the best revenge for an actor, but they deserve kudos for their performances all. It is very difficult to act like your not acting. Nicolas Cage can crash through the door, get shot five times and save the girl, but to act as if you are not acting, to become for the audience a 'real person' in a real situation, well that requires talent, acting talent. The cast was terrific, hats off to the casting director as well, the five principles especially, have bright futures.

If he wanted to make another "Casualties of War", "Full Metal Jacket" or a "Battle For Haditha" he could have.

Now when you sit down with a Brian Di Palma film what you want is suspense, and terror. You want to feel your heart in your throat. After all, that is his modus operandi, he likes to explore terror and darkness. And to be honest with you I was watching for the first time waiting for the heart pounding tension you expect from Di Palma. And I got to the end of the film , liking it, and the cast, but just a little let down that he had not given me what he promised, then of course came the very final frame of the film, when the entire piece comes together, and my heart was in my throat, choking me.

He had sucked me in and sucked me in and just when I thought it wasn't going to happen, my goose bump spine tingling moment, he delivers a gut punch, punctuated by an unforgettable score.

The actual images of the Iraq war he uses in his final segment "Collateral Damage" are disturbing and graphic, that is true, but as many critics have pointed out those don't seem to phase American's anymore, we have become numb and inured to that kind of graphic violence, but the girl, I knew her now, I knew her story, I knew what happened and understood that terror, she wasn't just another war photo.

He did that to me, Di Palma did that. Nice work, bravo.

It is a masterpiece.

Fail Safe, On The Beach, Catch 22, Slaughterhouse-Five, Apocalypse Now.
The best anti-war films are not political they are directed to the notion that the real enemy is war itself, and the casualty of war is too often our own humanity.


Redacted.

I urge these 'critics' to watch it again, with some friends, no talking (maybe some popcorn) and watch this film again, understanding that sometimes accomplished lifelong directors try and honestly produce art, not just 'box office magic'. I promise you will find a whole new film there.

Now a critic reversing an opinion, that might just be news. Wanna make history? Give it another chance.

MTMIND