Interesting and surprisingly potent.
Redacted (2007)
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:101
Fresh:44
Rotten:57
Average Rating:5.3/10
Consensus: Despite DePalma's obvious commitment to the material and passion for the issues at hand, Redacted suffers from stereotypical characters and a forced faux-doc style.
Rated: 15 [See Full Rating] for strong disturbing violent content including a rape, pervasive language and some sexual references/images.
Runtime: 90 mins
Genre: Dramas
Theatrical Release:14-03-2008
Synopsis: Director Brian De Palma, whose CASUALTIES OF WAR addressed a horrific tragedy that occurred during the Vietnam war, turns his attention to Iraq with an unfortunately similar tale. Inspired by true... Director Brian De Palma, whose CASUALTIES OF WAR addressed a horrific tragedy that occurred during the Vietnam war, turns his attention to Iraq with an unfortunately similar tale. Inspired by true events, REDACTED follows a group of soldiers who are stationed at a checkpoint in Iraq. Angel Salazar (Izzy Diaz) is an aspiring filmmaker who is intent on capturing his experience on videotape. His fellow soldiers--Reno Flake (Patrick Carroll), Lawyer McCoy (Rob Devaney), and Gabe Blix (Kel O'Neill)--seem to be surprisingly well-adjusted at first, but it isn't long before their true colors come through. When Reno decides to get drunk and harass an Iraqi family, the situation devolves into rape and murder, putting an incredible strain on Lawyer, who wants to expose Reno but doesn't want to rat out a fellow soldier. In making REDACTED, De Palma embraced the various forms of technology that have allowed soldiers to connect with Americans back home: video cameras, blogs, YouTube, etc. The result is a fictional documentary that feels immediate and experimental, incorporating first-person video perspectives, security cameras, and a variety of other techniques to tell its tragic tale. De Palma is clearly unhappy with the developments in Iraq, and he wants the world to know that he doesn't support the war. REDACTED will certainly never be misconstrued as a pro-war film. This is a challenging work that attacks the very nature of the American presence in Iraq. [More]
Starring: Izzy Diaz, Daniel Stewart Sherman, Patrick Carroll, Mike Figueroa
Starring: Izzy Diaz, Daniel Stewart Sherman, Patrick Carroll, Mike Figueroa, Ty Jones, Rob Devaney, Kel O'Neill
Director: Brian De Palma
Director: Brian De Palma
Screenwriter: Brian De Palma
Producer: Jennifer Weiss, Simone Urdl, Jason Kliot, Joana Vicente
Studio: Magnolia Pictures
Reviews for Redacted
In all its frustrations, this might well be the first great film on the Iraq War.
Even in the most effective parts of Redacted, De Palma's cast of newcomers lets him down.
It's a shame that with the vast canvas of this seemingly never-ending conflict that this crap is the image De Palma wants to convey.
Even the rants against Redacted by that noxious blowhard Bill O'Reilly aren't quite reason enough to recommend it.
A crude, unbearably smug attempt to provoke outrage from a filmmaker desperate to be relevant again.
Perhaps Brian De Palma was too blinded by his undoubtedly fervent feelings about the Bush Administration's bungling of the invasion and occupation to make an honest appraisal of his message movie's abundance of technical flaws.
This film is kind of a mess. Even if you agree with its politics, you will probably weep at the ineptitude of it all.
The result is not only a messy and awkward montage of trendy 'new media' lazily substituting for cinematography, it stretches credulity to tell this whole story, this intimately, in this same way, from so many angles.
De Palma's indignation is palpable, but he shoots himself in the filmmaking foot with a showy, self-conscious style that's more about the medium than the message.
It shows rare courage in protesting the widespread abuse of innocent Iraqis, but its pseudodocumentary form is full of awkward misfires and its acting is often terrible.
Where Casualties of War had the swooning formal elegance of an opium dream, Redacted adopts the fractured fitfulness of a seizure.
A repulsive movie, marred by grotesquely hammy acting and inscrutable presentation by Brian De Palma.
De Palma is extreme, visceral, usually in bad taste but almost always riveting.
Redacted is a provocative, multi-layered anti-war film whose power sneaks up on you.
The film is by turns strident, obvious, righteously angry and inspired.
Often powerfully engaging, and always deeply felt. And it marks the full-fledged return of a filmmaker long in artistic exile.
There are enough real documentaries about Iraq without having to make one up.
Latest News for Redacted
May 16, 2008:
Cannes 2008: De Palma Prints the Legend
Following on from last year's Iraq flick Redacted, Brian De Palma has announced a second film set in the region and dealing with the fall-out from the war.
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February 18, 2008:
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November 23, 2007:
Trailer & Poster review ![]()
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