Restrepo (Sunday, June 27, 2010) (59)

Restrepo is a documentary by Sebastian Junger and Tim Hetherington where the two filmmakers spent a year with an Army platoon in a dangerous outpost in Afghanistan. Just before the filming began, the Korengal Valley was one of the most dangerous places in the war as the Taliban had close connections to the local people and were fighting back the U.S. military with extreme force. The Second Platoon set up a mountain-top outpost, named Restrepo after a fallen comrade, and dug in for a long fight. They helped to win the Korengal and turn a corner in the war (at least for a moment).

The film is presented as a series of interviews with the solders who were there as well as the footage was shot. The soldiers describe what was going on and what they felt at different times. They are very frank about their emotions and the importance of their mission. Getting control of the Korengal was (and still is) a key part of the greater effort in Afghanistan.

A lot has been made about the intimacy of the film and how it puts us into the role of a solder in a mountain camp. I guess this is true, to some degree, but what we see onscreen never really feels all that scary. It is clear that they are being shot at now and again, and the solders tell us about how dangerous it is there, but we never really see it or experience it. For most of the soldiers, the most important part of the their tours was the death of Restrepo and another platoon-mate who was shot on the same day. These deaths occurred before the filming, so we can't see what happened in that situation (the stories probably work better in print than onscreen - a formal issue with the film medium).

There is one fire-fight that we do experience, but it is done in such a way that it doesn't seem all that worrisome. Maybe it's just hard to translate the terror one feels when there are bullets and things flying at you, possibly killing you - but it never really came through to me.

Beyond the absence of fear that I had, I also didn't like that it relied so heavily on the thoughts of the soldiers. I'm sorry to be rude, but these are guys who are not really good at talking about their emotions or explaining their actions. They are do-ers not thinkers. I know the point of this is that they *do* have feelings too - but they are simply not articulated well or in any way that I can understand them.

Still, there are a few very interesting moments that are shown onscreen. One is a time when there was a blood fight on another mountain and several American soldiers were killed. The commanding officer of our platoon says something to the effect of "I want to you to mourn and then get back to work". He then goes on to say that they will fight to kill the people who killed their friends. This sober matter-of-factness is very interesting and I'm sure rather common on the battlefield. I was interesting to see it. Beyond this, it is never totally clear what the hell the mission is that these guys are fighting (and dying for), and it's interesting that they basically make up their own mission - kill the guys who killed our buddies. In the absence of direction, go with the personal.

I appreciate the irony that these guys name this camp after a beloved buddy of theirs, but they also hate this place because it's dangerous and just not that comfortable. It is still a mark of respect to name a shithole after their friend. But this is about as deep as the film gets. It never really moves beyond the cliche of brutish solders talking dirty and being stuck in a really bad place who are heroic because of their sacrifice and devotion. I get that, but I guess I would like more. It is impressive that Junger and Heatherington did what they did (there are not many journalists who risked as much as they did), but that doesn't make a great movie.

Stars: 2 of 4