Casualties of War told the story of private Eriksson and the attrocities committed by his fellow soldiers while on a reconnaissance mission in the Vietnam War. Much like 12 years a slave the movie was based extensively on a primary source. The source this was based on was an interview of Eriksson conducted by Daniel Lang, a reporter for the New Yorker in 1969. The director Brian Depalma chose to follow this first hand account of the events closely leaving only a few scenes questionable for their historical accuracy.
Scenes described by Eriksson were depicted extremely accurately throughout the film. The scenes involving the abuse of the girl on the mission were not exaggerated in the film. Once the girl had been kidnapped she was forced to carry one of the soldiers gear, when the soldiers took breaks to eat in the film the girl was not fed and she eventually fell in to poor health. In the interview Eriksson said that she grew tired while carrying the gear and began to look sick. In the movie and in real life she was not fed but Eriksson being the only sympathetic soldier gave her an asprin to help her feel better. This was depicted accurately in the film. When Errikson refused to take part in the abuse of the girl he was threatened by the Sergeant calling him a homo sexual and saying that he would be killed and reported as killed in action on the mission. Eriksson told Daniel Lang all of this was true and during the court martial hearing one of the soldiers confirmed the threats and said that he would not have been able to withstand the threats being given to Eriksson. This same soldier acted as if he did not want to partake but felt threatened if he did not and eventually gave in. This was well demonstrated in the film and it was made clear that the soldier had given in to the pressure. When Eriksson refused he was told to keep watch in the jungle outside the abandon hooch they were camping in for the night. In his interview he confirmed this and showed remorse for not taking more action to protect the girl. Every detail involving the girls health was accurate in the film, she fell sick and developed a bad cough until she was eventually killed. The sergeant tried to get the other soldiers to kill her and when they wouldn't he eventually let his eager second in command stab the girl multiple times. Errikson described the man to be almost enthusiastic about killing the girl. When they believed she was dead she began to crawl out of the bushes and the soldiers opened fire on her and then disposing of the body off of a cliff just like in the film. The interview was not the only thing proving the movie's historical accuracy.
The soldiers in the movie acted unsympathetic to the Vietnamese people slaughtering their live stock and burning their villages. There are multiple accounts of these events taking place in Vietnam. One interview with a soldier on Pbs.org told the story of the burning of Cam Ne. He said that a group of soldiers nicknamed the "zippo brigade " set fire to the village as the Vietnamese fled. A reporter took pictures of the event and tried to alert the public. When questioned the Marine Corps denied the event and said that the village was collateral damage to a battle. The soldiers in the film talked about the villages and its people as collateral damage as well. The public was shocked after seeing these images because they were used to seeing the US act as heroes in World War Two making the war even less popular in the US than it already was.
The scenery in the movie was also extremely accurate. One scene where the soldiers walked through a devastated jungle looked very similar to pictures of battle that can be found online such as hamburger hill. The depiction of the base camp also looked very realistic to what a base camp would have looked like in Vietnam. The movie was filmed in Thailand in order to give it an accurate landscape. Eriksson also described an abandoned hooch that the soldiers took shelter in in the jungle which was shown in the film. The vehicles such as the helicopters and gun boats shown in the film would have also been a common sight in Vietnam. After following history so closely Depalma was left with little room for interpretation.
There were a few scenes depicted inaccurately in the film. One example was when Eriksson told the other soldiers he had a wife and kids back home but in reality he only had a wife. Another fictional scene was when a bomb was placed in the bathroom to try and kill Eriksson. Eriksson never reported this to have happened. This was added to emphasize the threats given to Eriksson and add drama to the film.
As a whole Casualties of war was a historically accurate movie that could be used to teach Errikson's story and about the Vietnam war. Neither of the two exaggerated events found drastically changed the course of the movie. The details shown in the film gave a realistic and accurate depiction of the events.
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