Diary: Redacted: A Fumbling, Progressive Movie Review

I will not profess to be any kind of critic. I have no classical education in critiquing movies, if that is what qualifies one to credibly review a film. I will say, however, that I have had a thorough non-traditional education in a wide swath of American movies since the silent film. As credentials I would offer the following movies as somewhere near the top of my favorite movies of all time; Pi, Naked Lunch, The Mission, Mosquito Coast, the Fountain, Deer Hunter, and Dr. Zhivago just to name a few.

It would be a massive undertaking to remember every movie I have ever seen, but I will freely admit I have no formal education of any kind.

That being said, my review of Brian De Palma's Redacted will be mainly gut reactions and the political ramifications of the film.

Being a veteran of the United States Air Force through 9/11, I initially started to take offense at the treatment of the brutal murderers portrayed in the film. The dialogue seemed a little canned, and the characters a little overdone in their cruelty and immoral views. It felt like the filmmaker intended to portray the troops as vicious invaders with no conscience whatsoever.

Then I actually read the account of the original events, the Al-Mahmudiyah killings in 2006. These evil men raped a 15 year old girl and killed her family, burning her corpse to hide the crime. However clumsy and negative De Palma's amateur videographer style may have been, these guys deserved it and then some. Though I will always say I support the troops (the troops themselves, not the policy or the policymakers), as a former service member I realize that some things are beyond the pale and worthy of our scorn, negating any worth the offender's voluntary service to their nation may have otherwise given them in the eyes of the public.

It seems the powers-that-be agreed with me, as three of the offenders received anywhere from 90 to 110 years in prison as punishment for their heinous war crimes.

Back to the movie- the patched together style of press clips, pieces of a faux French documentary, and various security cameras among other things, did illustrate the movie title's intent, in that a large part of the atrocities occurring in Iraq in our names is redacted from the mainstream media coverage most Americans get.

This movie is like Requiem for a Dream- full of ugly, hurtful images that are branded into your cerebellum for all time. But anyone who saw either of these movies will surely say that every person should see them at least once. Brian De Palma presented a shockingly-truthful view of a horrific, yet true event, with all the gory details that were carefully redacted from corporate evening news presentations to the American public.

Perhaps by being hurtful this movie can shock Americans into a more forceful denunciation of the Iraq War.

Otherwise it was an important movie, but in no way entertainment of any kind. Don't take your girlfriend to this one. See it when you're in a serious mood and then find a way to get politically active, and hopefully together we can all get our troops home- the only support they truly need.