A recipe for disaster.
Take one Brat Pack director, preferably one who has been off the boil for around the same length of time as Francis Ford Coppola. If Coppola is busy in the vineyards, then give Brian De Palma a call. Take one of the director’s recent lesser films, say Casualties Of War, and reheat as badly as possible. Chop into bite sized pieces made to resemble ‘modern’ media. A faux docu-drama with YouTube and videophone inserts is recommended for that fully inauthentic ‘politics of image-making’ glaze.
Make sure the actors are as ripe as possible. The poorer the performances, the more likely you are to produce a concoction that nobody will believe a minute of. Knead into the shape of a recent war tragedy. The real life gang rape and murder of a 14 year-old girl by US soldiers (the Al-Mahmudiyah killings) in 2006 will suffice.
Sadly, as the director was once a master-craftsman, you won’t be able to beat out the lumps of quality completely. But the occasional glimmer of talent and a commendably fierce anti-war sentiment will only make the project that bit more unpalatable. Serve when it’s interesting but messy.