Casualties of War: An Investigation

Casualties of War, Brian De Palma’s devastating and brilliant 1989 feature film starring Sean Penn and Michael J. Fox, tells the true story of the rape and murder of a young Vietnamese woman by a patrol of American soldiers. ＂When you leave the theatre,＂ wrote Pauline Kael in her review, ＂you’ll probably find that you’re not ready to talk about it. You may also find it hard to talk lightly about anything.＂ De Palma himself said: ＂It’s a film I still have a hard time watching because it’s so disturbing. It’s one of the most horrific stories you can imagine.＂

Drawing on a wealth of rare material, including military archives, correspondence and unpublished screenplays, Nathan Réra revisits the 1969 book by Daniel Lang that documented the actual events, examines two films from the early 1970s inspired by Lang’s work, and analyses a series of unproduced scripts written over a period of many years, before exploring in detail the making and reception of De Palma’s film. More than just a production history, Réra’s text delves into the aesthetic, ethical and political issues surrounding screen representations of the Vietnam War, and violence against women in the context of armed conflict.

This fascinating and unusual book uses Brian De Palma’s unappreciated Vietnam masterpiece as a portal into the collision of history, journalism, politics and the moviemaking process. Nathan Réra brings academic rigor and a storytelling gift to this intriguing investigation into the long and painful transformation of a horrific incident into art. - Julie Salamon, author of The Devil’s Candy.

What began in admiration of Brian De Palma’s remarkable film Casualties of War became an intrepid, rigorous investigation for Nathan Réra: a probe into the original, horrendous Vietnam War incident, the extraordinary, journalistic book it gave rise to, and the many attempts (realised or not) to bring this difficult, confronting material to the screen in all its complexity. Ending on a note of autobiographical revelation, this book delves deeply, emerging with an abundance of rich insights. - Adrian Martin, author of Filmmakers Thinking.