- Film Review
- Reviewed By Adrian Turner
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4 out of 5
It's not as well known as The Deer Hunter, Apocalypse Now or Platoon, but this Vietnam War tale is just as disturbing and probably more provocative since its content is far riskier. Directed by Brian De Palma, it has at its centre the fact-based story of a Vietnamese woman who is kidnapped and brutally raped by four GIs. While battle-scarred Sean Penn leads the assault, new recruit Michael J Fox stands back but doesn't help her. The film's compassion for the woman hits us directly, as does the way De Palma sets up the episode by showing the brutalisation of Penn and his colleagues in the preceding scenes. Filmed with all of De Palma's technical bravura, it heads towards an epilogue that reaches an emotional precipice and then leaps confidently over it.
Plot Summary
War drama starring Michael J Fox and Sean Penn. During a bus journey in San Francisco, a young man daydreams of his tour of duty in Vietnam when, as a raw recruit, he was brought face to face with the horrors of war.
Cast and crew
Cast
- Eriksson
- Michael J Fox
- Sergeant Tony Meserve
- Sean Penn
- Corporal Thomas E Clark
- Don Harvey
- Herbert Hatcher
- John C Reilly
- Diaz
- John Leguizamo
- Oahn
- Thuy Thu Le
- Sergeant Frank Brown
- Erik King
- Rowan
- Jack Gwaltney
- Lieutenant Reilly
- Ving Rhames
- Hawthorne
- Dan Martin
- Captain Hill
- Dale Dye
- Agent
- Steve Larson
- Agent
- John Linton
- Prosecutor
- Vyto Ruginis
- Wilkins
- Al Shannon
Crew
- Director
- Brian De Palma
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