I've slacked hard on this month's war challenge, but I deemed it necessary to watch one of my favorite Brian De Palma movies. This one is based on a grizzly true story of a group of grieving soldiers who kidnap a local Vietnamese girl and proceed to torture and rape her.

The cast is excellent. Sean Penn is the main perpetrator of this heinous act. A man with seemingly no conscience as he views any natives as VC scum who deserve whatever harm they may get. Don Harvey plays his asshole lackey who you want to punch in the face. John C. Reilly is the guy who's too dumb to realize the error of his ways, and John Leguizamo plays the quiet reluctant culprit who's roped into the dirty deeds because Sean Penn is an intimidating fuck.

The only guy who wants nothing to do with any of this is Michael J. Fox, who plays the voice of reason, but he can't do much of anything because these guys are his commanding officers. This whole ordeal is a nightmare for him, leading him to question his morals and purpose in the war, since the good guys prove to be no better than the men they're fighting a war against.

This movie is rather hard to watch, because the girl really sells it, and you feel awful for what they put her through. It's emotionally devastating and downbeat, made even worse by the fact that it's true. War is tough enough when you're trying to do what's right, but here we have a bunch of soldiers knowingly doing the wrong thing.

It's hard-hitting, and if it doesn't get a reaction out of you, then you're fucked.

Also featuring Erik King (Doakes, from Dexter), Ving Rhames, and real life Nam vet Captain Dale Dye. Too bad Michael J. Fox doesn't do much these days, due to his health, because he put out one hell of a performance in this.