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One platoon, one valley, one year. Winner of the 2010 Sundance Grand Jury Prize, and heralded as one of the best war films ever made, Restrepo focuses on the deployment of a US platoon in Afghanistan's hostile Korengal Valley - considered one of the most dangerous postings of the war. Over the course of 15 months, the two filmmakers Tim Hetherington (killed in 2011 while filming conflict in Libya) and Sebastian Junger (author of ‘The Perfect Storm’) lived with the unit shadowing their every move, resulting in extraordinary footage. From spectacular combat and ambush scenes to difficult discussions with local village elders, civilian and military deaths, never before has such access been granted. Restrepo is as close as it gets to seeing what life as a soldier is really like. (Dogwoof Pictures)
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Restrepo is an advanced combat outpost of the US army in the militarily most exposed area of the Afghan battlefield, which bore the brunt of the clashes with the Taliban at a time when the US administration wanted to showcase itself as the victor where several other armies, including the Soviets and the British, had previously failed. It cannot be compared to the similarly themed Danish documentary Armadillo, which I find considerably smarter, more mature in terms of filmmaking, and much better at analyzing the typical low-intensity warfare that the Afghan battlefield represents. Restrepo is more action-packed partly because there was indeed more combat activity there, and partly because American filmmakers feel that the audience deserves some excitement, with camera shaking and emotional outbursts like "They're around the corner!" Overall impression: 55%.
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