Brian De Palma's Redacted essentially reworks his searing 1989 Casualties of War, which dealt with similar material, transposing the sadly universal story to an Iraq setting. The script is based on a 2006 incident in which U.S. Marines are alleged to have raped a girl and then killed both her and her family. But while the earlier film was made in the director's customary flamboyant style, this one is shot in gritty HD video and framed as a collection of supposedly “authentic” source materials—including excerpts from a French documentary on the occupation, a “video diary” by a U.S. soldier, conversations accidentally picked up by base security cameras, media on Internet websites, television news broadcasts, etc. De Palma obviously intends the rape as a metaphor for the effects of American policy—a cry of anguish over both the impact of U.S. militarism on war-torn Iraq and the dark side it brings out in some soldiers. But despite some undeniably powerful moments—the horrifying rape sequence among them—Redacted simply fails to be dramatically convincing. The dialogue veers from the perfunctory to the excessively “literary,” while the broad theatrical performances by non-professional actors clash wildly with the film's cinéma vérité appearance. Optional. [Note: DVD extras include more than an hour of Iraqi refugee interviews, a Higher Definition episode on the film (9 min.), a five-minute behind-the-scenes featurette, a photo gallery, and trailers. Bottom line: a solid extras package for a well-meaning but flawed film.] (F. Swietek)
Redacted
Magnolia, 90 min., R, DVD: $26.98, Feb. 19 Volume 23, Issue 2
Redacted
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