“Restrepo” is one of the best documentaries of the year. It’s gritty, haunting, and altogether beautiful. A real life “Hurt Locker,” “Restrepo” is gut-wrenching, visceral, and powerful beyond words. With a hand-held technique, director Sebastian Junger gives a soldier’s combat view that is terrifying. Some shots were filmed by the soldiers themselves as they engage in a firefight. You can’t get more realistic than that. The film chronicles one year in the lives of a group of soldiers battle and struggle to survive day after day in the deadliest place in the world, the Korengal Valley in Afghanistan.
The camera gives us a boots-on-the-ground, in-your-face look at what each soldier experienced while enduring the daily firefights in the Korengal. It’s as if we are one of the soldiers fighting alongside the others. It’s terrifying, realistic, and heartbreaking.
When the soldiers are getting interviewed against an appropriately stark black background, their whole faces are often not even in the frame. It allows for every twitch, every little moment and emotion to be captured as they cross the interviewees’ faces. One particular soldier, tries to smile as he describes the amount of sleeping pills he’s on, but as he stops speaking, the camera lingers on him, and we see his smile slowly fade as he looks slightly off-camera, still caught in a moment from his time in Afghanistan. Another soldier being interviewed describes what it felt like to have one of his best friends die. The struggle for him to keep his composure and keep telling the story without crying is absolutely tear-jerking. The camera doesn’t become voyeuristic, and you get the feel that the soldiers aren’t letting the camera intrude and invade in their lives, but become a part of it, at least momentarily.
The camera also captures some of the most harrowing and triumphant moments the soldiers experience while on duty. After the death of a very well liked soldier, Restrepo, they manage to build a camp, almost in defiance to the terrorists in the rest of the area. In another scene, after one of the best soldiers in the company is shot, we see the visceral, emotional reaction of one of his friends. It is nearly impossible to look at the screen without feeling some powerful, swift feeling punch you right in the stomach.
The dark parts are balanced nicely with moments of the absurd—soldiers break out into a random dance party. A small, fleeting escape from the horror they have to deal with day after day. We see soldiers joke with each other, talk, rough house, anything to lighten the mood, to get their minds off of what they’re expected to do, day after day.
“Restrepo” shows war as it truly is: chaotic, messy, and exhilarating. In one memorable scene, the best fighter in the platoon was shot twice, and the men cope with the idea that if the Taliban could kill their best man, what would happen to them? Seeing the reaction of one soldier to the news of his dead comrade is unbelievably real and gut-wrenching. In another scene, one soldier speaks about what it feels like to be shot at. “It’s the greatest high you’ll ever experience,” he says. “You can’t come down from that.” The idea that war is hell and that it is a powerful drug is an understatement.
This movie makes no commentary on the war itself, whether it is right or wrong for the U.S. to be there, rather it is pro-soldier. We see the effects the war has on our soldiers with horrifying realism. They describe the night sweats, night terrors and shakes they experience as they try and sleep every night. This is what the film is really about, the human face of this modern warfare.
Overall, “Restrepo” is a film that shoves your heart in your throat the entire time as we see the frontlines of combat in Afghanistan and the comradeship that helps each soldier survive. As the camera stares unflinchingly into the eyes of the people fighting the war, they unflinchingly look back, with soulful eyes and swollen hearts.
Where to See It: Hope it comes to theaters around Oscar time, but don’t get your hopes up
Rating: 4 1/2 stars
The camera gives us a boots-on-the-ground, in-your-face look at what each soldier experienced while enduring the daily firefights in the Korengal. It’s as if we are one of the soldiers fighting alongside the others. It’s terrifying, realistic, and heartbreaking.
When the soldiers are getting interviewed against an appropriately stark black background, their whole faces are often not even in the frame. It allows for every twitch, every little moment and emotion to be captured as they cross the interviewees’ faces. One particular soldier, tries to smile as he describes the amount of sleeping pills he’s on, but as he stops speaking, the camera lingers on him, and we see his smile slowly fade as he looks slightly off-camera, still caught in a moment from his time in Afghanistan. Another soldier being interviewed describes what it felt like to have one of his best friends die. The struggle for him to keep his composure and keep telling the story without crying is absolutely tear-jerking. The camera doesn’t become voyeuristic, and you get the feel that the soldiers aren’t letting the camera intrude and invade in their lives, but become a part of it, at least momentarily.
The camera also captures some of the most harrowing and triumphant moments the soldiers experience while on duty. After the death of a very well liked soldier, Restrepo, they manage to build a camp, almost in defiance to the terrorists in the rest of the area. In another scene, after one of the best soldiers in the company is shot, we see the visceral, emotional reaction of one of his friends. It is nearly impossible to look at the screen without feeling some powerful, swift feeling punch you right in the stomach.
The dark parts are balanced nicely with moments of the absurd—soldiers break out into a random dance party. A small, fleeting escape from the horror they have to deal with day after day. We see soldiers joke with each other, talk, rough house, anything to lighten the mood, to get their minds off of what they’re expected to do, day after day.
“Restrepo” shows war as it truly is: chaotic, messy, and exhilarating. In one memorable scene, the best fighter in the platoon was shot twice, and the men cope with the idea that if the Taliban could kill their best man, what would happen to them? Seeing the reaction of one soldier to the news of his dead comrade is unbelievably real and gut-wrenching. In another scene, one soldier speaks about what it feels like to be shot at. “It’s the greatest high you’ll ever experience,” he says. “You can’t come down from that.” The idea that war is hell and that it is a powerful drug is an understatement.
This movie makes no commentary on the war itself, whether it is right or wrong for the U.S. to be there, rather it is pro-soldier. We see the effects the war has on our soldiers with horrifying realism. They describe the night sweats, night terrors and shakes they experience as they try and sleep every night. This is what the film is really about, the human face of this modern warfare.
Overall, “Restrepo” is a film that shoves your heart in your throat the entire time as we see the frontlines of combat in Afghanistan and the comradeship that helps each soldier survive. As the camera stares unflinchingly into the eyes of the people fighting the war, they unflinchingly look back, with soulful eyes and swollen hearts.
Where to See It: Hope it comes to theaters around Oscar time, but don’t get your hopes up
Rating: 4 1/2 stars
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