Analysis of Casualties of War Movie - Essay Example

? Casualties of War Casualties of War Summary of the Movie The movie is based on the events of 1996 and includes five of the solder that were part of a unit during the most devastating war-Vietnam War that was led by Meserve. Meserve stood out as one of the solders with amazing psychopathic but forceful personality. A new member of the unit is introduced called Erikson Fox and is unjaded by the violence and brutality that is happening around him. This team faced several frustrations in the field and decided to invade a village where they also kidnap a young girl, Oah who they raped and violated both emotionally and physically. They made the young woman to be their slave and made her run all the errands for them, Eriksson then refuse to take part in the torture and slavery and decided to attempt setting her free. Unfortunately, after some time, the young woman is buttered and eventually killed by Meserves’s unit under Eriksson’s watch; he was unable to do anything to stop them. Even though he failed to secure justice for the woman, Eriksson continued to seek for justice for the woman but nobody listened to his plea but continued to push for justice until the military unit were brought to a military tribunal. Eriksson became unrelenting quest for the victim’s justice whom he thought was brutal and unfairly treated by the units of solders he was serving with in the same unit. In the unit, different personalities are depicted with reference to the unfolding; Sean is portrayed as a highly effective part of the team and was instrumental in moving the unit forward. On Michael Fox, he is portrayed as a naive recruit of the team with good qualities at the same time, on the other hand, the performance of Thuy Le was rather heart wrenching. This movie directed by Brian considers the aspects of brutality adopted by Merseve and the unit he controlled during the period of the war while at the same time includes the dissenting voice of Eriksson. It should also be noted that this movies was based on the Daniel Lang’s article referred to as New Yorker and series of subsequent books. Casualties of War in my opinion remains one of the best films depicting war in an emotionally manipulated way while remaining effective too. It illustrates the demonizing effects f the war and at the same time demonstrate that it is no the way through. In the films, what comes out clearly is the fact that it is only the foolish and the laziest that will seek refuge in war. It also depicts how wholesome failure of humanity can lead to the institutional violence and this in the film is construed on how this can shape people’s thinking to the extent that they simply dismiss actions without justification or rationale. In that regard, Eriksson position not to partake on the Vietnam’s was and the eventual resistance that confronted him when he insisted of doing the right things simply demonstrates the extent the film has gone to move beyond the theatre of war and cites failures of the institution of humanity. After a keen follow of the film, it is construable that there are many issues that the Americans did in the Vietnam War than just what is conventional in the public domain. American Involvement in the War It will be remembered that the US and the USSR after the Second World War were in superiority rivalry in which the US supported capitalist countries and the USSR extended the same to the communist’s sympathizers. One such area where the confrontation of the two major worlds power after the events of 1945 took place was in Vietnam. The US, supported the Southern Vietnam given the fact that they supported communism, on the other the USSR supported the Northern Vietnam on their position on communism. The US took the responsibility to help countries that were under coercion in accepting those ideologies that they did not subscribe to through military and economic support. Making reference to the film, Merseve and Eriksson experienced tension in their relation in the military unit given the fact that Eriksson did not cooperate on the execution of the unit’s plans and actions. Eriksson was a dissenting voice on the morality and justice considering the conduct of his fellow military personnel. The attitude of the US solders according to the film can be deduced to be brutal, unjust, and immoral. The film indicates the moral degradation and the social evils the American solders partook on in their mission in Vietnam. The solders are portrayed to be inhumane and lacking morality on the civilian by subjecting them to all manner of torture and abuses. It demonstrates that even thought they went on a defined mission of saving the South from the Communists coercion; they overstepped their mandate and took active role in some of the worst crimes against humanity. The US solders interaction with the indigenous people is depicted to be not rosy, this is justifiable following the incidence of the young woman that they raped,, maimed and finally killed. It demonstrates how intolerable they were to the indigenous people turning to be the worst dictators and chauvinistic autocrats that tolerated no dissenting voice. It can also be inferred that the attitude of the solders towards the women was that they are sex object that can be wiped out of existence at will- women are for satisfaction of sexual desires after which they are not useful and can be killed and dumped. The Casualties of war in conclusion informs that most of the US solders in Vietnam mission new very little about liberty and this can be traced largely to the position in the country that liberty was just on paper and was never practiced. The abrogated all that defines liberty and human rights in the War in Vietnam, this position is also accentuated by Eric Foner, a professor of History who specialized in the civil war and reconstruction, slavery, and the US in the 19th century. In the slavery and the civil war, he makes several counts on how human rights and liberty in the land of the US remained elusive for so long with violators facing no criminal proceedings. Reference Casualties of war. Dir. Brian Palma. Perf. Penn, Michael, Erikkson, Meserve. 2001. Columbia TriStar Home Entertainment, 2001. HD-DVD. Read More