CASUALTIES OF WAR tells the excruciating true story of a squad of American soldiers during the Vietnam War, who kidnap and rape a young Vietnamese girl in the name of fun. The story is told through the youthful and innocent eyes of Michael J. Fox, in a rare dramatic performance that may be his career-best.

Films like this can hardly be enjoyed, but CASUALTIES OF WAR proves to be unmissable entertainment and one of the harshest war stories out there; also, one of the best. It's a bit like watching a film of a train wreck, where you can't tear yourself away from what's happening and what you know is going to happen. The tragic, soul-searing story is one of the most moving I've ever seen.

A film like this needs a great director to tell it, and de Palma is that director. He wisely lets the story tell itself for the most part, but he can't resist incorporating a couple of flourishes (like the POV sequence) that remind us of his skill as an auteur. The cast is great, too, particularly the newbie actors (John C. Reilly and John Leguizano) playing soldiers and Sean Penn as the hateful sergeant. Understandably, Thuy Thu Le has the toughest role, and it's one she walks away from with her head held high; if ever an actress deserved an Oscar nod, it's her.

Max Eriksson (Michael J. Fox) is a Vietnam vet haunted by an incident during the war. Sgt. Tony Meserve (Sean Penn) leads a squad of five soldiers. He's hard-nosed and then his longtime friend gets hit. Eriksson is still considered cherry. PFC Diaz (John Leguizamo) is the new replacement. Along with Cpl. Clark (Don Harvey) and PFC Hatcher (John C. Reilly),the group kidnaps a village girl and rapes her.

I have some problems with the realism of the look. It's the way director Brian De Palma shoots some of the action. At least twice, he uses the background to show action while in the foreground a character looks forward. It's a very manufactured look and takes away from the realism that this movie desperately needs. MJF does the ethical naive jittery newbie but something about him strikes me unrealistic. He's not up to the drama. It's not gritty enough. I feel it would be more intense if he kept more quiet. The character needs to have some more internal conflict. On the other, Sean Penn nails it as the disturbed leader of the squad. But that just emphasized the lack of drama acting coming from MJF.

Brian De Palma directed this powerful story that stars Michael J. Fox as Eriksson, one of a five-man unit during the Vietnam war that sees events turn sour, since his unit sees much action, in which he believes civilians were wrongfully killed, but later things take an even more evil turn when the group's "leader" Sgt. Meserve(played by Sean Penn) orders the abduction of a young Vietnamese girl for a group rape. Absolutely appalled, Eriksson refuses to participate, though the only thing he could of done to stop it was shoot them, something he found himself unable to do. After the girl dies, Eriksson reports the incident to the authorities, who eventually charge the men, but Eriksson still finds himself an outcast. Heartbreaking film with excellent performances, though is certainly not easy to watch.

Eriksson sums up the situation perfectly when he says "We're supposed to be helping these people..."