Ennio Morricone's 10 Greatest Film Soundtracks

While there have many productions showing the different sides of the Vietnam War, few are as harrowing and unflinching as Casualties of War.

Directed by Brian De Palma and released in 1989, the film is based on the events that transpired during the Incident on Hill 192, and portrays the rape and murder of a Vietnamese woman in gruesome detail, followed up by one soldier's efforts to bring the perpetrators to justice.

The music by Ennio Morricone gets across the cruelty of the act here, beginning with a slow moving and ominous flute before eventually bringing in the strings to highlight the injustice that followed. Much like its contemporary, Oliver Stone's Platoon, it's a mournful backdrop to the proceedings, heightening the hideous deeds that occurred throughout the near-decade-long conflict.

The brutal and tragic nature of the Vietnam War is vividly conveyed by the composer in Casualties of War, as the film delves into the darkest elements of that conflict.

Casualties of War came late in the retelling of the conflict, but it remains a gutting film, something made all the more effective by Morricone's viciously foreboding score.