Redacted

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Movie
German title Redacted
Original title Redacted
Country of production USA , Canada
original language English
Publishing year 2007
length 88 minutes
Age rating FSK 18
Rod
Director Brian De Palma
script Brian De Palma
production Mark Cuban
Jason Kliot
Simone Urdl
Joana Vicente
Todd Wagner
Jennifer Weiss
camera Jonathon Cliff
cut Bill Pankow
occupation

Redacted is a US-American - Canadian war drama from the year 2007 . Directed by Brian De Palma , who also wrote the screenplay, the plot of which is based on the Mahmudiyya massacre committed by a US soldier during the Iraq war and has a documentary character, not least because of various original footage inserted in the film.

action

The film shows some soldiers from the Alpha Company deployed in the Iraq war : Angel Salazar, who films his comrades with a video camera; Lawyer McCoy, Reno Flake, BB Rush, and Commander James Sweet. Your main task is to guard a checkpoint and search passers-by and vehicles. A French camera team accompanies the unit as embedded journalists . The worldview of most soldiers is shaped by hatred, fear and contempt for the Iraqis, whom they call "Ali Babas", "Hajis", "Camel-fuckers" or "Sand nigger". The desire to exterminate the entire Iraqi people is expressed. There are also conflicts within the group, in whose quarters two Confederate war flags hang: Those who do not share the opinion of the spokesmen are denigrated as “fagots”, “traitors” or “four eyes”. The atmosphere in the quarter is also characterized by the lonely men’s obsession with sex. After an innocent pregnant woman with her baby was shot at the checkpoint - her brother had wanted to drive her to the hospital in labor - the shooter mocked the victims. This is the first time there is an - almost escalating - argument with the soldier McCoy. A fade-in indicates that of the 2000 Iraqis shot at US checkpoints, only 60 were rebels. At night, a rebel installs an explosive device on a pile of rubbish that kills the unit's commander the next day. During a subsequent house search, the journalists witness the procedure: The GIs kick the doors and shout at the frightened residents in English. During this search, the soldiers take a family man into custody. After drinking alcohol, Flake and Rush decide to rape a girl who passes their checkpoint every day. You return to the searched house. Salazar joins in and films the course of events. McCoy first tries to prevent the rape, but after an argument with Flake, he leaves the house to keep watch. While Rush is holding the girl, Flake shoots the mother, sister and grandfather. After the rape, they also kill the girl and set the corpses on fire.

Salazar is kidnapped a few days later and beheaded in front of the camera as revenge for the crime. McCoy suffers from a remorse and asks his father for advice via video telephony. He implores his son not to blacken his comrades. McCoy reproaches himself for not preventing the act and reports his comrades to his superiors, whereupon he, Flake and Rush are interrogated. The film ends with McCoy being celebrated as a hero in a bar after returning home, while he collapses mentally. In the credits you see photos of " collateral damage ", that is, killed Iraqi civilians.

Reviews

  • Derek Elley wrote in Variety magazine that the film, shot in the style of a fictionalized documentary, was "deeply felt", but "dramatically unconvincing". The characters of the soldiers are clichéd. There are similarities in the characters and the story with the film The Damned of War . The representations are "a little exaggerated"; otherwise the technical level is high.
  • Film critic Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film 3½ stars (out of 4) and praised the film as "shocking, harrowing and frustrating".
  • Journalist John Pilger called the film "admirable".
  • The French film magazine Cahiers du cinéma voted the film the best film of 2008.

Awards

  • 2007: Silver Lion - Best Director
  • 2007: Women Film Critics Circle Award
  • 2008: Amnesty International Film Festival , Youth Jury Award
  • 2008: Motion Picture Sound Editors (nomination)
  • 2008: Golden Reel Award (nomination)

backgrounds

Redacted means edited or censored in English . The film was shot in Jordan . Its production amounted to an estimated 5 million US dollars . The film had its world premiere on August 31, 2007 at the 2007 Venice Film Festival . On September 10, 2007, it was screened at the 2007 Toronto International Film Festival . The film was shown for the first time in Germany at the Munich Film Festival from June 20 to 28, 2008.

additional

The story Appointment in Samarra is mentioned in the film. This is based on an Arabic anecdote about the inevitability of fate.

effect

After the murder of two American soldiers at Frankfurt Airport on March 2, 2011 , the 21-year-old Islamist assassin Arid Uka testified after his arrest that he had received the last impulse to act from the brutalities of American soldiers shown in a video . It turned out that it was an excerpt from Redacted that the perpetrator did not see as fiction.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Release certificate for Redacted . Voluntary self-regulation of the film industry , October 2008 (PDF; test number: 115 160 V / DVD / UMD).
  2. ↑ Film review by Derek Elley, accessed on September 14, 2007 ( Memento from October 13, 2007 in the Internet Archive )
  3. ↑ Ebert, Roger: Redacted , RogerEbert.com. November 16, 2007. 
  4. ^ Pilgrims, John: Why the Oscars are a con , newstatesman.com. February 11, 2010. 
  5. ^ Meilleurs films de l'année 2008 (Best Films of 2008) . Archived from the original on June 2, 2011. Retrieved October 18, 2013.
  6. ^ Filming locations for Redacted, accessed September 14, 2007
  7. ↑ Box office / business for Redacted, accessed September 14, 2007
  8. ↑ Redacted premiere dates, accessed September 14, 2007
  9. ↑ Press release of the Munich Film Festival, accessed on June 1, 2008
  10. ↑ Arid U.: The Mysterious , Frankfurter Rundschau, March 9, 2011 ( online version )