Redacted

This movie was absolutely terrible from a photographic, editing, acting, directing and entertainment point of view. Nearly everyone agrees with that in every comment made by people from all points on the political spectrum. Given that, I can only comment on the blatantly biased point of view presented. No civilized person of sound mind with even the least bit of morals can argue FOR an actual war, and the horrors that go along with that war. It is very easy to say that we should all have peace and for many of us, that peace WILL come in the next life. It is however ludicrous to imagine that after war and violence has continually existed since Cain and Abel that there is a magic silver bullet that will end it now, barring an apocalyptic end to this minute planet in this large and wonderful Universe. By comparison to previous wars in my 73 years on this planet, this "war" pales by comparison. If you want to talk about and depict horror, then talk about Hitler and the holocaust; Truman (a Democrat) demolishing two Japanese cities in a single minute; the killing fields after we "cut and ran" from Viet Nam; and the continuing horrible condition of oppressed peoples all over the world. As for the USA, the few thousand Americans who have died in Iraq do not come close to the hundreds of thousands right here in the states that have perished over the last six years either directly or indirectly as a result of drugs or alcohol. However, not a single American has died in the US itself since 9/11 as a result of terrorism. THAT is what Iraq is really about. It is not "Bush's illegal war" however much the far left would have you believe it. Yes it is a fact that some very few Americans have committed atrocities in Iraq. They have been punished. The war in Afgananistan (which continues) was authorized by almost every person in Congress after 9/11. The war in Iraq was the direct result of Saddam Hussein thumbing his nose at the UN, who passed resolutions that led to invasion by an international UN force, composed largely of US soldiers and equipment, as has always been the case when bad guys needed to be eradicated. When we examine what we should have done after the initial objective was accomplished, we wind up in a morass of opinions and alternatives. Bush 41 pulled back quickly and ten years later we were back. Only one thing is sure here. This movie does absolutely NOTHING in terms of proposing any viable solution. It does however clearly provide our obvious enemies with a great propaganda piece to help train more suicide mission personnel designed to kill every one in sight, regardless of political position, age, sex, or ethnicity as was the case 9/11/2001. I consider myself an apolitical, centrist, moral libertarian. This movie insults my sensibilities on this basis and on a technical movie making basis. If you liked this, you probably really liked 8MM, and vice versa.

De Palma already did his murder/rape hatchet job in 1989, when Leftist darlings Sean Penn and Michael J. Fox offered their considerable acting attributes to "Casualties of War". Some folks posting on this site are already accepting as truth the premise of De Palma's film. Whoa! If American troops had actually committed this atrocity, the mainstream media would have trumpeted it, and would have never let us forget it. It would be bigger than Abu Gharib. De Palma not only copies Hitchcock's cinematic style unabashedly; he's now reduced to recycling his own scripts and plots. At least he had the decency to wait until Vietnam was some time in the past before he urinated over the legacy of those veterans. I have checked Mr. De Palma's bio on this site, and there is no mention that he ever served in the armed forces. As much as I loathe Oliver Stone, he's a combat Marine, and deserving of a salute for his service. De Palma needs to stick to gangster flicks. Otherwise, when it comes to the American fighting trooper, he, like the rest of Hollywierd, is clueless.

The movie is based on true events but is also fictionalized (in addition to using blog postings as a "source"). This is nothing more then a Mickey Moore tactic to appear factual & when you get caught in a lie you can just say well its partially fictionalized to cover your ass.(instead of its a comedy like Moore) The biggest problem with this and nearly all Hollywood attempts to tackle big issues is the arrogant approach to stack the deck with no integrity that it becomes mere propaganda. They simply do not have the courage of their convictions. This is why with the exception with the of 2 Moore "docs", only people that already agree go see them. This extra disappointing because the movies format to make it seem more documentary like & the sprawling cast would make seem ideal for many point of views to be expressed so people will actually think & discuss.

Redacted is the best, if not the bravest, film of de Palma's career. Using a radical style that mixes quasi-documentary video, websites and on-camera chats, Redacted tells the true story of US Army soldiers raping a 15-year-old Iraqi girl then slaughtering her family. Redacted is never preachy nor sentimental, as found in de Palma's lesser movies. Every note here rings true. The movie resonates and haunts. The normally jaded audience at the press and industry screening I attended today at the Toronto Intl Film Festival applauded. A few days ago, De Palma received the Lion Award for best feature-film director at the Venice International Film Festival and a 10-minute standing ovation. He deserves both. This is the best film I have seen so far at TIFF.

This is one truly powerful (for lack of better a word) film. I am left dumbfounded and virtually speechless. Of course we all are aware of the horrific tragedy of war, but this film really showed me that what I had in mind is a "G" rated version. Everyone needs to see this film so we can all truly understand what our men and women are going though. It really brings you there with them and lets you see what they see on a daily basis. Not only does it focus on Americans, but it looks into what the Iraqi's are going through as well. This war is not a pretty picture, and though this film documents the disturbing realism of war, please watch it. It's films like this that make a difference and spark change.

I just saw Redacted, and I have to say that I found it pretty bad. The story is very flawed, the characters are just walking stereotypes, the events mentioned in the movie are covered in the media and the style in which the movie was filmed as to go along with the title and have that "redacted look" was poorly done. As another commenter already mentioned it is obvious that the writer did not research how Infantry units operate. The individual characters poorly reflect how real American soldiers conduct themselves. The premise that the American media does not cover these events is just completely off. While I could go on and on I'll just say that it was just bad all around.

Brian de Palma's Redacted ups the ante of protest films, fictionally recounting the rape and murder of a 14-year old Iraqi girl by U.S. soldiers in 2006. Using hand-held camera surveillance footage, Internet videos, excerpts from a French documentary and an Arab TV channel, Islamic fundamentalist websites, and the fictional camcorder diary of a young U.S. private, Redacted lets us know not only about the atrocities of war but about the unreliability of the way in which information is presented in the media and how we cannot trust what we see, even in his film. Modeled after de Palma's earlier Casualties of War, Redacted searches for a truth in fiction that is deeper than reality-based documentary. Angel Salazar (Izzy Diaz) carries a video camera around shooting whatever he sees hoping to make a documentary that will be his ticket to film school. We are first introduced to his unit: Gabe Blix (Kel O'Neil), Lawyer McCoy (Rob Devaney), Sergeant Jim Sweet (Ty Jones) and good ol' boys, Reno Flake (Patrick Carroll) and B.B. Rush (Daniel Stewart Sherman). The videos make it apparent that our soldiers have lost their sense of purpose and are no longer on solid emotional ground. The hand held video camera is then replaced by a French documentary about the soldier's routine at checkpoints in Samarra. Suddenly, a speeding car is approaching. Interpreting the signals by U.S. personnel to slow down as meaning they are being waved on through, the car is gunned down, killing a pregnant woman and her unborn child as the driver After a member of Salazar's unit is killed by a bomb, the two men who fired on the speeding car, Rush and Flake, invade the home of an Iraqi family in retribution and to enjoy the "spoils of war". In the middle of the night, they rape and murder a fourteen-year old girl, kill her family, and set the house on fire. The sensitive Blix does not want to be involved with the mission, and McCoy goes along to try and prevent more harm but fails to stop the violence. Flake and Rush tell the rest of the company that any word of this incident will result in their death. The incident is seen only with a flickering light and the actual assault takes place off camera, but the scene nonetheless elicits a feeling of disgust. As if to try and show that the horrors of war are not limited to one side, de Palma shows the abduction and beheading of a U.S. soldier in very graphic terms. In the final gut wrenching sequence, a montage labeled "Collateral Damage" brings truth and fiction together as we see actual footage of Iraqi war victims mixed with staged deaths and faces that are redacted with black pens. While Redacted is flawed by inconsistent acting and overly didactic add-ons, its impact is extremely powerful. De Palma indicts both the stupidity of the U.S. government for initiating the war, the complicity of the media in presenting us with a sanitized version of it, and a culture in which such atrocities are permitted to occur. Like the films of French director Bruno Dumont that show how meaningless violence generates more meaningless violence, the visceral impact of Redacted will stay with you for a long time. Slapping us in the face to show us how we have lost touch with the reality of war, the film is full of elemental passion, untidy, disjointed, and at times over-the-top, but in Dumont's words, it returns us "to the body, to the heart, to truth".

Just checking the vote statistics, it is easily observed that Americans do not like their own garbage. I think every single American must see this movie to understand what is going on.Actually the movie has an interesting appearance that the director preferred to use the online web cams and web sites etc to bring the stuff into our lives as in real life. Moreover the attitudes of privates was reflected to the screen well enough. Especially the drunken raper solider was played very realistic. Well, it is understandable that most guys do not like this movie as it is not a fabulous Hollywood one full with action scenes but this is real life my friends.

I've read all the reviews above...... The American ones are thumbing down the film; and the rest of the world giving thumbs up... I join the latter group.... A courageous film (not a movie!); says what it wants to say in an understandable, simple way and yet becomes very moving.... This is not a film for people from NYC or Texas (see the very first reviews above); let them go to see the Transformers or Jumper; who'd rather sit back with a half a gallon soda in one hand and bucket of popcorn in the other and enjoy mindless flicks.. Finally an American filmmaker came up with a thinking-man's film and he is to be congratulated.. This film should be prized and shown to every war-blind and ignorant American who still blindly support the invasion of Iraq. Of course it is not a perfect film (one can never make a perfect film over such a horrible story) but yet very moving and pushing one to think over the empty definitions of NeoCons over democracy, freedom; liberty and humanity... A companion piece to In the Valley of Elah, I should say, and very well done Mr DaPalma...

source: Redacted