Re[d]acted

Redacted is neither sequel nor remake, but may offer a glimpse of the more interesting motivational forces behind the concept of the sequel/remake: a filmmaker's continuing focus on a set of themes and ideas.

Iraq films, both documentary and fictionalized (okay, usually they're both) are all over the film festivals this season. Nick Broomfield's Battle for Haditha, Paul Haggis's In the Valley of Elah, George A. Romero's Diary of the Dead, Charles Ferguson's No End In Sight, Phil Donahue (different one) and Ellen Spiro's Body of War are all making the rounds to various degrees of acclaim and discussion.

Redacted is Brian De Palma's Iraq entry, currently making the film festival circuit (Venice, Toronto, Telluride, New York). At Venice, after the film's premiere, De Palma received a ten-minute standing ovation on the way to picking up the Silver Lion for best director.

The piece tells of a group of U.S. soldiers in Iraq who rape a young girl and kill her and her family. It's based on a true story, the Al-Mahmudiyah killings of 2006. It's nearly twenty years since Casualties of War, when De Palma told of a group of U.S. soldiers in Vietnam who rape and a kill a young Vietnamese woman. It almost seems like cheating to bring up the parallel. Mortal outrage at war crimes hardly makes De Palma an obsessive filmmaker, and it's almost disingenuous to mention this even in the context of a thematic remake - after all, Casualties was based on its own true story, forty years before Al-Mahmudiyah. It's its own story, and it's very nearly dismissive to frame it as something worth mentioning in the context of allowing De Palma to make a new film updating an old angle. I leave it in on the basis that it feels in keeping with some of the loftier ideals of remaking: that some things are cyclical, regardless of how long ago they were buried. The soldiers responsible had probably seen Casualties of War, but if Anthony Swofford is right in Jarhead, the experience of going to war may have robbed it of its lessons, converting it, with Platoon and Full Metal Jacket, into personal fuel for American military power. The soldiers failed to learn the lessons of the past: they repeated it pretty faithfully, and three of four are in prison, with the last awaiting trial. Redacted is criticized for being anti-troop (more on that in a moment) but those critics fail to comprehend the idea of an American taking a few moments to point out that it's not just those who fail to remember the past who suffer the effects of its repetition.


Redacted is already drawing fire. Chief among its critics is Bill O'Reilly, who refuses to see the movie and has been making a habit of denouncing De Palma as a traitor on numerous occasions. His chief salvo can be seen here, in which he says he'll call for boycott and protest of any American theater chain with the nerve to carry the film.

Fox's Neil Cavuto (against whom Eli Roth mounted a solid defense, despite what was presumably Fox's attempt to stack the deck by booking an easily-attackable defendant) and CNN conservative Glenn Beck have chimed in as well. As Redacted draws nearer, expect all the heavyweights to make their opinions known. It should be noted that O'Reilly did not make clear any desire to embarrass Ellen Knickmeyer or bury the Washington Post for reporting the story as linked above. Slate, NPR, CNN, etc. all similarly escaped O'Reilly's wrath for publishing reports of troop uninfallibility.


On the filmic side, this ad for Redacted is basically useless. There might be something useful to say about integrating making-of footage - De Palma is interested in blurring the film/making of film line, as seen in both Femme Fatale and Redacted - but the ad sure doesn't offer it, opting instead for clips of Carrie and The Untouchables. I get the impression they show behind-the-scenes footage both to heavy-sell De Palma himself, who's the focus of the ad, and to avoid telling potentially cowed viewers what the movie's actually about. HDNet softpedals by calling it controversial but assuring us not that the film won't disturb - which, by all accounts, it will - but that your old pal De Palma (oh, he's the Scarface guy) knows what he's doing.

Redacted will have a controversy-filled multi-stage release in November and December.