Director Brian De Palma Digs Into 'Redacted' Story

Fresh Air | By Dave Davies

Published November 14, 2007 at 12:05 PM EST

Brian De Palma's films include the horror classic Carrie, the crime epics Scarface and The Untouchables, and the first Mission: Impossible film.

His latest release, Redacted, is a fictional take on a real incident — in which U.S. soldiers who raped and murdered a 14-year-old girl in Iraq. It has strong echoes of his Vietnam War drama Casualties of War.

Inspired, in part, by reports he saw on the Internet about the 2006 incident, De Palma takes a raw, cinema-verite approach what's essentially a faux documentary, telling the story with the aid of soldiers' blogs, video diaries and online testimonials — all invented for the film, but based on materials De Palma found online.

Dave Davies

Dave Davies is a guest host for NPR's Fresh Air with Terry Gross.

See stories by Dave Davies

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