Redacted (2007)

User Rating:

6.1/10   

Director:

Brian De Palma

Writer:

Brian De Palma (written by)

Release Date:

16 November 2007 (Spain)

Genre:

Crime | Drama | War

Tagline:

Truth is the first casualty of war.

Plot:

A montage of stories about U.S. soldiers fighting in the Iraq conflict, focusing on the modern forms of media covering the war.

Plot Keywords:

Pregnant Woman Shot | Iraq War | Broken Back | Abduction | American Abroad

Awards:

3 wins & 2 nominations

Cast

Sahar Alloul	...	Arab News Reporter
Happy Anderson	...	Battalion Commander (as Eric 'Happy' Anderson)
Lara Atalla	...	Buddy #3
Karima Attayeh	...	Farah's Mother
Francois Caillaud	...	Buddy #2
Patrick Carroll	...	Reno Flake
Andrew Cullen	...	Buddy #1
Rob Devaney	...	Lawyer McCoy
Izzy Diaz	...	Angel Salazar
Mike Figueroa	...	Sergeant Jim Vazques
Qazi Freihat	...	Hadi
Shatha Haddad	...	Embedded Journalist
Paul Hijazin	...	English Newscaster
Suhail Abdel Hussein	...	Farah's Father
Ty Jones	...	Master Sergeant Sweet
Dhiaa Kahlil	...	Soldier
Hiyam Abdel Karim	...	Pregnant Woman
Yanal Kassay	...	Soldier
Ohad Knoller	...	Army Psychiatrist
Shukraya Maran	...	Young Screaming Woman
Sabrine Munther	...	Farah's Little Sister
Paul O'Brien	...	Barton's Father
Adel Odai	...	Interpreter
Kel O'Neill	...	Private Gabe Blix
Hameed Sahi	...	Farah's Grandfather
Abigail Savage	...	Tattooed Kid
Nick Seeley	...	Criminal Investigation Agent #1
Issam Shamary	...	Pregnant Woman's Brother
Daniel Stewart Sherman	...	B.B. Rush
Julie Thiery	...	'Barrage' Narrator
Helen Zamel	...	Date Girl
Jafar Zoubi	...	ATV Anchorman
Mazen Zoubi	...	Company Commander
Zahra Zubaidi	...	Farah

Directed by
Brian De Palma

Writing credits
Brian De Palma		(written by)

Produced by
Laird Adamson	....	co-executive producer
Mark Cuban	....	executive producer
Jason Kliot	....	producer
Christopher Matson	....	associate producer
Gretchen McGowan	....	co-executive producer
Eric Schwab	....	co-producer
Stephen Traynor	....	line producer
Simone Urdl	....	producer
Joana Vicente	....	producer
Todd Wagner	....	executive producer
Jennifer Weiss	....	producer

Cinematography by
Jonathon Cliff		(director of photography)

Film Editing by
Bill Pankow

Casting by
Billy Hopkins
Paul Schnee

Production Design by
Phillip Barker

Art Direction by
Michael Diner

Set Decoration by
Rana Abboot

Costume Design by
Jamila Aladdin

Makeup Department
Adrien Morot	....	special makeup effects artist
Orly Ronen	....	key hair stylist
Orly Ronen	....	key makeup artist

Production Management
Andrew Cullen	....	assistant production manager
Mike Harrop	....	post-production supervisor
Gretchen McGowan	....	executive in charge of production
Stephen Traynor	....	production manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Francois Caillaud	....	key second assistant director
Tamir Naber	....	second second assistant director
Eric Schwab	....	second unit director
John Tyson	....	first assistant director

Art Department
Rime Al-Jabr	....	scenic painter
Amin Charif El Masri	....	lead set dresser
Sana'a Jaber	....	set dresser
John Moran	....	graphic designer
Lana Tettlock	....	key scenic painter
Paul Vernon	....	property master
Samir Zaidan	....	scenic painter
Nasser Zoubi	....	assistant property master

Sound Department
Steve Baine	....	foley artist
Todd Beckett	....	sound re-recording mixer
Keith Elliott	....	sound re-recording mixer
Paula Fairfield	....	sound designer
Paula Fairfield	....	supervising sound editor
Gina Gyles	....	foley assistant
Colin McLellan	....	adr recordist
Carla Murray	....	sound effects designer
Carla Murray	....	sound effects editor
Jason Perreira	....	sound re-recording assistant
Peter Persaud	....	foley recordist
Jill Purdy	....	dialogue editor
John J. Thomson	....	sound mixer
Alan Zielonko	....	boom operator
Mark Zsifkovits	....	sound re-recording mixer

Special Effects by
David Harris	....	special effects supervisor
Graham Hills	....	senior special effects technician

Visual Effects by
Rob Gyorgy	....	digital effects artist

Stunts
Steve Griffin	....	stunt coordinator

Camera and Electrical Department
Michael Bailey	....	second assistant camera
Alex Gomez	....	first assistant camera
Duraid Munajim	....	camera operator: second unit
Osama Namrouqa	....	gaffer
Kit Pennebaker	....	assistant camera

Animation Department
Timothy Peel	....	playback animator

Casting Department
Lara Atalla	....	casting: Jordan
David H. Kramer	....	adr voice casting
George Naouri	....	casting assistant

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Fikreyeh Abu Kheit	....	assistant costume designer
Phaedra Dahdaleh	....	costumer
Abd Elfattah Rayyan	....	wardrobe assistant
Nooredin Abedrabboh Sufian	....	wardrobe assistant

Editorial Department
Jim Fleming	....	digital film colorist
Rob Gyorgy	....	DI editor
Alex Yalakidis	....	assistant editor

Music Department
Kevin Banks	....	music editor
Stephanie Diaz-Matos	....	music supervisor
Jim Dunbar	....	music supervisor
Randall Poster	....	music supervisor

Transportation Department
Adel Adawi	....	transportation captain
Omar Ayesh	....	transportation co-captain

Other crew
Phillip Barker	....	title designer
Maggie Cohn	....	assistant: Mr. De Palma
Beisan Elias	....	production assistant
Alice Wickwire Foster	....	production coordinator
Doug Gillespie	....	production accountant
Steve Holmgren	....	office manager
Sonia Hosko	....	assistant to producers
Winnifred Jong	....	script supervisor
Fuad Khalil	....	location manager
Quentin Little	....	development executive
Mohammad Majali	....	production assistant
Karen S. Neasi	....	product placement
Travis Rehwaldt	....	key set production assistant
Dana Silverman	....	production assistant
Robert Stein	....	legal counsel
Charles Taylor	....	head armorer
Scott Tremblay	....	principal technical officer
Scott Wealing	....	key military consultant
Virginia A. Williams	....	production executive

Thanks
Stewart Aziz	....	special thanks
Maxine Bailey	....	special thanks
John DeBoer	....	special thanks
Atom Egoyan	....	special thanks
Luc Montpellier	....	special thanks

Production Companies

• Film Farm, The
• HDNet Films

Distributors

• On Pictures (2007) (Spain) (all media)
• Magnolia Pictures (2007) (USA) (theatrical)
• Albatros Film (2008) (Japan) (theatrical)
• CP Classics (2008) (Russia) (all media) (limited)
• Madman Entertainment (2008) (Australia) (DVD)
• Magnolia Home Entertainment (2007) (USA) (DVD)
• Maximum Film Distribution (2008) (Canada) (theatrical)
• Orlando Films (2007) (Israel) (all media)
• Paradiso Entertainment (2008) (Netherlands) (theatrical)
• Paradiso Home Entertainment (2008) (Netherlands) (DVD)
• Prorom Media-Trade (2007) (Romania) (all media)
• Seville Pictures (2008) (Canada) (theatrical)
• Sponge (2008) (South Korea) (theatrical)

Other Companies

• Dolby Laboratories  sound mix
• Elizabeth Bardsley & Associates  script annotation
• Hand Prop  props supplied by
• Movie Armaments Group  weapons and tactical gear supplied by

MPAA:

Rated R for strong disturbing violent content including a rape, pervasive language and some sexual references/images.

Runtime:

90 min

Country:

USA | Canada

Language:

English | French | Arabic | German

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

USA:R | Canada:18A (Alberta/British Columbia/Manitoba/Ontario) | Portugal:M/16 | Ireland:16 | Sweden:15 | UK:15 | Ireland:15 (video rating) | Netherlands:16 | Japan:R-15 | Singapore:M18 | Australia:MA (2008)

Filming Locations:

Jordan

Company:

Film Farm, The

Trivia:

The genesis of the film began when HDNet Films approached Brian De Palma in 2006 to make a film with only two strings attached: it had to be shot for $5 million and on HD.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: Angel Salazar's video camera, as shown in the opening scene, is a small, cheap camcorder. However, during the scene where Master Sergeant Sweet is introduced, the camera's shadow suggests a much larger high-end HD camera with wide lens and external microphone is being used.

Movie Connections:

References Saving Private Ryan (1998)

De Palma's Worst Effort Ever (Amature Hour for De Palma)

It's hard to believe this is from the same person who directed "Scarface". This is "The Blair Witch Project" meets "Full Metal Jacket" meets "Loose Change". It really watches like some teenager decided to make a war movie after spending a weekend watching Vietnam flicks. Has De Palma ever met anyone in the military? Has he ever worked a set where there were ex-military advisers (like most military themed movies use)? The problems with this movie are five-fold. First, the storyline is somewhat cartoonish. Second, the characters are just copies of some of the worst war movie stereotypes. De Palma obviously based the "Rush" character on Leonard "Private Pyle" Lawrence in "Full Metal Jacket". Flake is a clone of PFC Louden Downey in "A Few Good Men", or perhaps Lennie Small from "Of Mice and Men". Third, some of the Internet scenes make me wonder if De Palma has ever been online or used a web browser. They are just odd. Four, the facility the Army members use as their bunk house has all kinds of industrial equipment, including a big, pale blue wall with gauges and levers like the engine room out of a 1950's sci-fi flying saucer. Fifth, and most importantly, the story is just bad, and really hard to believe. I don't mean the rape/murder, I mean everything else The "interrogation" scene of SPC McCoy makes no sense. First, in a legal investigation, why is an NCO interrogating someone? A JAG officer would be doing that, or in a non-legal investigation, an assigned officer would be doing it.

Literally every scene, with the exception of the very first scene, is like it was done by clueless teenagers and leaves any non-ignorant person saying to themselves "it would never happen that way". Down to the bizarre (and totally implausible) final scene, where McCoy breaks down but his buddy still demands a photo of him and his wife, and the totally weird applause for McCoy from the bar crowd.

This movie is best described as the "Plan 9 from Outer Space" of war movies. No, make that the "Showgirls" of war movies. That's a better comparison. What "Showgirls" is to "My Fair Lady", "Redacted" is to war movies.

But it is worse than that, and here is why.

Every character with any relation to the military, with the sole exception of SPC McCoy, is depicted as corrupt. Even McCoy's father does not support his son. We get the impression the senior McCoy was a career military man, either an officer or senior NCO, but he tries to get his son to not report what happened. That just does not seem believable. And he refers to what it would do to "The Corps". The Corps is the Marines, but the movie's characters were Army.

It is just so odd, I have to wonder if De Palma really wrote this film. He cannot do something that God-Awfully bad. I mean, it reminds me of a middle eastern soap opera you might see on Palestinian television, the caricatures are so, so bad. Filled with stereotypes, bad stories, and just oddness.

De Palma could have made a good movie, using the basic concepts of "Redacted", but he did not.