on watching "casualties of war" too young
This takes me back to Saturdays in the early 2000s.
My parents both worked, so it was usually just me, my younger brother, and his babysitter at home on Saturdays.
I would watch cartoons with my brother in the mornings to keep myself occupied. Then, I would play with the neighborhood kids for a while. And when my brother would nap or play with his toys in the early afternoon, I would start flipping through movies on TV to find something to watch.
One particular Saturday, with nothing else to do, I started flipping through the movie channels. I came across the war drama Casualties of War.
As a little boy, I didn't have the attention span for serious movies and dramas. I much preferred cheesy action flicks with lots of explosions. But this movie caught my interest because one of the main actors was Michael J. Fox, whom I knew from Back to the Future.
Big mistake.
That movie scared the shit out of me.
At just 11 or 12 years old, I was definitely not the intended audience for this film. As the disturbing plot progressed, I became too uncomfortable to continue watching. As a kid just wanting some harmless Saturday entertainment, I wasn't prepared for what I saw.
It took a few more years to fully appreciate Casualties of War as a powerful film. I don't hesitate to suggest this film when people ask for war drama recommendations.
Note: In the early 2000s, certain R-rated movies, music videos, and TV shows underwent little to no censorship in India.