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Kel O'Neill, Ty Jones, Daniel Stewart Sherman, Izzy Diaz, Rob Devaney

A fictional story inspired by true events, "Redacted" will force viewers to reconsider the filters through which we see and accept events in our world, the power of the mediated image and how presenta...( read more  read more... )tion and composition influence our ideas and beliefs. A profound meditation on the way information is packaged, distributed and received in an era with infinite channels of communication, "Redacted" utilizes a variety of created source material--video diaries, produced documentary, surveillance footage, online testimonials, news pieces--to comment on the extreme disconnect between the surface of an image and the reality of ideas and the truth, especially in times of strife. Centered around a small group of American soldiers stationed at a checkpoint in Iraq, "Redacted" alternates points of view, balancing the experiences of these young men under duress and members of the media with those of the local Iraqi people, illuminating how each have been deeply affected by the current conflict and their encounters with each other.

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46% liked it

32,932 ratings

Critics

44% liked it

101 critics

R, 1 hr. 30 min.

Directed by: Brian DePalma

Release Date: November 16, 2007

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DVD Release Date: February 19, 2008

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Stats: 924 reviews

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Photos

Patrick Carroll in REDACTED, a Magnolia Pictures release. Photo courtesy of Magnolia Pictures. Ty Jones in REDACTED, a Magnolia Pictures release. Photo courtesy of Magnolia Pictures. Rob Devaney and Izzy Diaz in REDACTED, a Magnolia Pictures release. Photo courtesy of Magnolia Pictures. Brian De Palma, writer and director of REDACTED, a Magnolia Pictures release. Photo courtesy of Magnolia Pictures. Kel O’Neill in REDACTED, a Magnolia Pictures release. Photo courtesy of Magnolia Pictures. Rob Devaney, Kel O’Neill, Mike Figueroa and Izzy Diaz in REDACTED, a Magnolia Pictures release. Photo courtesy of Magnolia Pictures. redacted redacted redacted redacted redacted
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Flixster Reviews (924)

  • benjaminguilbert2
    April 13, 2009
    benjaminguilbert2
    During the whole movie you feel that De Palma is dragging the obligation of making THE great film about the conflict in Iraq. The result is poor, annoying and striped of the last remaining ounces of imagination this director once had.

    Just take for instance, the fake documentary...( read more), it is ugly, irrealistic and down right idiotic. Really a shame, so bad, the film actually looks European.
  • bort16
    November 5, 2008
    bort16
    Redacted is an interesting and well intentioned film, even if it is heavy handed.
    This is a tough and unpleasant film to watch at times. Its style is unique and works quite well at times, while at others bogs the movie down.
    Redacted is shot from different points of view, mostl...( read more)y through the video camera of private Angel Salizar, who was denied entrance into film school so he joined the army. He is obviously one of the central characters, but he's rarely seen on film; he's the one operating his camera and we hear him often speaking from behind it. This is his ticket into film school, a combat veteran with a video diary: who's going to deny him now? He tapes his buddies as they patrol Summata, play cards, and talk. When we're not watching his camera, we're watching either security cams, a documentary by a french crew on the soldiers, a news crew, or what appears to be videos posted on youtube. It creates an interesting appraoch to narrative, and at times creates the sense that you are actually watching a documentary - which i'm sure was DePalma's intention. I'm sure that everyone by now, given the massive controversy surrounding the film, knows what will happen. US soldiers go on a revenge raid after one of their comrades is killed by an IED. Drunk with rage, sexual deprivation, and sadism they storm a house they raided - for no apparant reason then either - days before and found nothing, but arrested the male head of the house anyway. They go back to rape the man's 15 year old daughter, and one of them kills her and her entire family. Salizar is one of the soldiers who goes, rigging his camera up to his helmet so as to be the fly on the wall, documenting what happens. Another soldier goes as well to make sure nothing happens, but is forced at gunpoint to not interfere.
    I dont' think that redacted is a anti-soldier movie at all in reality. Most of the soldiers are disenchanted with the war, just want to go home and wnat nothing to do with the rape and wnat nothing more than to see justice done, but are forced to stay quiet.
    We get to see some scenes where one solier is being persuaded by his father, an army man, to keep quiet, and an attack on his story by military superiors when he attempts to tell them. These scenes, especially the latter, I would have liked to see more of. Afterall the film is supposed to be about the way stories are suppressed and diverted when they are deemed unsavoury to the credibility of the USA. The film gets bogged down in showing us how its being made, when it should be showing us more of the "redaction," if you will.
    The use of non-actors, or inexperienced ones, works to the advantage of the attempts to create a documentary like feel. When people know they are on camera, they get uncomfortable and the way the actors are not able to give movie star performances works to this end. However there are other times, particularly moments of big speeches that it works against it. It doesn't help that these speeches are sometimes over the top and heavy handed.
    There is no actual problems with the message of the movie and it does not villify the troops as a whole. I would even go so far as to say that it is quite even-handed when you consider the facts surrounding reality.
    If you are out of tune with reality, and still adhere to the false reality that the USA can do no wrong, then I'm sure you'll find it offensive.
    There are a couple shocking moments in the film. One includes an IED explosion, the killing of a pregnant Iraqi thanks to a misunderstanding at a checkpoint, and another scene involving a kidnapped soldier. The ending however is probably the most powerful, and grumesome portion of the film.
    The final moments, under the heading "Collateral Damage," show the bloodied, dismembered, and dead bodies of Iraqi men, women and children - the only doctoring done, is the digital covering of their faces. On that note, I will take the same course as the film, and end this review.
  • gor41
    September 20, 2008
    gor41
    Flashy production and faux multiple media sources don't make this feel authentic and the points about Iraq have been better made elsewhere (Battle for Haditha).
  • jmanard52
    August 24, 2008
    jmanard52
    This just didnt flow very good and i just didnt like the movie. And hell i hate the war too but it felt forced and cliched.
  • rebvodka042099
    July 23, 2008
    rebvodka042099
    What a futile effort to portray the truth by such a great director...
  • kanokaan
    November 7, 2009
    kanokaan
    The most shocking movie i have seen since i born.And i have watched "Requiem for a dream" too.But "Redacted" effected me more.I think rape is the most unhuman act of the mankind.And when Brian De Palma mixes this with tragedy of Iraq and documentary camera,it blows your mind and ...( read more)you are starting to swear to rapists and war and Bush.And story telling isnt with only documentary camera,sometimes De Palma takes you to YouTube's web pages or security cameras.After a moment you are feeling like at is real.So thats why it is the most effective movie i have seen.
  • PattyCsU
    September 30, 2009
    PattyCsU
    A very shocking film critical of the war in Iraq. It depicts soldiers stuck on foreign soil with no real sense of obligation or a clear mission. Eventually they crack and do some very horrendous things to the local Iraqi people.

    DePalma does a nice job but definitely not up to ...( read more)his standard of film making, but this film is done in a unique style. There were a lot of slow moments and the acting overall was poor.
  • Phonex
    September 28, 2009
    Phonex
    A 17 years old girl rape case by American soldiers in Iraq.
  • tristansantos2004
    September 12, 2009
    tristansantos2004
    This movie shows the true tales of war in iraq...its sad how demoralizing US soldiers take advantage of innocent people. The US has gained nothing from the war but enemies....who wants justice.
  • jmlanlo
    September 9, 2009
    jmlanlo
    Un film qu'on a envie d'aimer, mais le jeu des acteurs est théâtral, le travail de De Palma laborieux... et le résultat manque cruellement de réalisme.

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Critic Reviews

November 21, 2007
Pete Hammond, Maxim

It's a shame that with the vast canvas of this seemingly never-ending conflict that this crap is the image De Palma wants to convey. full review

November 16, 2007
Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle

Even at its most blatantly manipulative, Redacted provokes a response of rage, disgust and anger. De Palma strives to ignite passion, and while some of that passion may end up directed at the film its... full review

November 16, 2007
Kurt Loder, MTV

...this jumble of flat visual tones and wandering narrative focus leaves De Palma--a man who knows where to put an actual movie camera and how to dance it around in an often dazzling manner--in a crea... full review

November 16, 2007
Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times

The result of the film is shocking, saddening and frustrating. full review

November 15, 2007
Stephanie Zacharek, Salon.com

Of all the war-themed pictures that have been released so far this fall, it stands apart, and it stands alone: Redacted is confrontational, rough, immediate and confounding. full review

November 15, 2007
A.O. Scott, The New York Times

Brian De Palma's Redacted traffics in, and clearly means to provoke, strong, unbalanced emotions.

November 15, 2007
Steven Rea, Philadelphia Inquirer

DePalma's movie offers its own doctoring and processing, without delivering an ounce of real humanity -- good or bad -- in the bargain. full review

November 12, 2007
David Edelstein, New York Magazine

Critics have called the movie crude and punishing. All right, the defense concedes all that, but the movie does a harrowing job of depicting the psychological toll of the occupation on both Iraqis and... full review

October 7, 2007
Nick Schager, Lessons of Darkness

Feels like the work of a director so righteously angry and so pleased with his formal experimentation that he doesn't realize how painfully, inelegantly obvious he's being. full review

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