Shinya Tsukamoto warns against war in Vietnam film

Japanese director Shinya Tsukamoto said at the Venice Film Festival that his Vietnam War film "Mr. Nelson, Did you Kill People?" is meant to make young people reject the idea of going to a real battlefield.

The film, which premiered Friday at Venice, tells the story of Allen Nelson, a Black US Marine sent to Vietnam in 1966 who was later affected by what he saw and did there. Nelson battled PTSD and spent his later life speaking publicly about the horrors of war.

Tsukamoto told a Friday press conference that he wanted to show that people who go to war, regardless of country or era, will experience horrifying things and commit horrifying acts. He said victims' suffering remains the same whether warfare is old-fashioned or uses drones.

The film takes its title from a question Nelson was asked by a schoolchild after his Vietnam tour. It follows the impact of that question through family problems, medication, therapy and redemption.

Its flashbacks depict the young Nelson, played by Mark Merphy, and his platoon in Vietnam. Rodney Hicks plays the older Nelson in therapy sessions with a psychiatrist played by Geoffrey Rush.

Tsukamoto said Saturday that he tried to balance shocking viewers with avoiding repeated violence that could numb them. He also said drone operators may still suffer severe PTSD, especially when they monitor targets and families before an attack.

Nelson gave more than 1,200 talks in Japan about his war experiences. He died in 2009 and is buried in Japan.