Brian De Palma basically remakes Casualties of War as he himself admitted, updating it for the Iraq War. It's a found footage film but it's de Palma found footage so is well done. Well, on the whole.
Some of this is very good - the death of the US officer via an explosion, an execution... actually every death. It has power. These things happened. And will happen. The final moments showing photos of real dead killed is a gut punch.
Other stuff is less good. The acting isn't crash hot. The rape sequence feels "actors playing rape". Maybe it happens like that in real life... I know horrible things happen it just felt like actors going for it. The scene where a soldier is abducted feels comic. (His death is very well done.)
The budget was $5 million, low for De Palma, but looks good. There's scenes of a military base, checkpoint, etc. Maybe they should've spent more on the actors though/
A film of flaws, and the story was told before by the same director, and the Iraqis are the ususal wailing victims. But the film also has guts and effective moments.
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