Brian De Palma’s next film is aimed to tackle the same subject matter as his 1989 drama “Casualties of War,†set during the Vietnam war, where a girl is taken from her village by five American soldiers. Four of the soldiers rape her, but the fifth refuses. The young girl is killed. The fifth soldier is determined that justice will be done. The film is more about the realities of war, rather than this single event.
De Palma is schedule to begin production early April on “Redacted,†a film based on the recent events surrounding the rape and murder of a 14-year old Iraqi girl, and the killing of three of her family members by four US soldiers. The soldiers were sleep-deprived and living on energy drinks and sleeping pills in a situation where anyone outside the fence was considered the enemy. The killings have been the most provocative in a series of war crimes that have tarnished the reputation of US armed forces in Iraq.
The films narrative will be told using a mixture of video from news broadcasts, documentary footage, trial coverage, YouTube posts and excerpts from one of the soldier’s video blogs.