With *Redacted* it feels like De Palma trying to confront Iraq by abandoning the tools he is best at. The found media collage was ahead of its time, but it also traps him in something purposefully stiff and abrasive. What makes it land is the release year. With American troops still fully entrenched in Iraq, the film’s unsparing directness becomes almost unbelievable. If it is a companion to *Casualties of War*, it is only because this feels more like the inverse, all outrage and no flourish. Last 20 minutes or so comes flat out and says what’s been building, again I can’t believe De Palma was allowed to make this and at the time he did is insane.
[Brian De Palma Ranked](https://boxd.it/wJWwS)
