Life on the Frontlines of the Afghanistan War: Restrepo (2010)

I've had this documentary for a while. I was never in the mood to watch something that was probably going to be so serious, but today I caught by a curiosity to finally see it. Maybe it was in reaction to the false "reality" pushed in Apollo 18. Whatever the reason, I watched Restrepo today. Ever wonder what it was like in the most dangerous area of Afghanistan? You're about to find out. My impressions after the jump.


Restrepo follows the men of Battle Company 2nd of the 503rd Infantry Regiment 173rd  Airborne Brigade Combat Team. The platoon is deployed into what was considered the most dangerous area of Afghanistan, The Korengal Valley. It covers a year of their lives at Outpost Restrepo, named after a fallen friend who was killed in action. The creation of Outpost Restrepo is largely considered a large turning point in the dynamics of the area.

This is a hard film to talk about. It doesn't really have a point to make, it simply documents what happened during a year of this group's deployment. There is a lot of shooting and firefights. We are often in the middle of the action, even during enemy ambushes. It's intense and could be hard to watch for some people.

For such a dangerous area, the view sure is amazing

It amazing to think that these soldiers and men come into areas like this and regularly put their lives on the line. It's possibly even more amazing to realize that the two filmmakers of Restrepo had to have been right there with the platoon. You never see them in the film, so it's easy to forget that these men, Sebastian Junger, and Tim Herrington were there for everything. While I can understand the soldiers, they've been trained, have weapons to attack and defend themselves with, I can't imagine being one of the filmmakers, utterly helpless in the middle of the chaos. Sadly, I learned during some research on this film that Tim Herrington was killed by an RPG on April 20, 2011 while working on another project in Libya.

The documentary makes it a point to only ever interview or show the soldiers and never any generals or diplomats. Only the people who are stuck in this hell are shown. Even so, it doesn't try to put any kind of spin on the events. We only ever hear from the soldiers who made and lived at Outpost Restrepo. It's all very matter of fact. We hear about what it was like to first enter the valley, what it was like trying to first establish Restrepo. We see the men on patrols and dealing with the local elders. And then we see things like the answer to "What was the time you felt the most scared, the most worried?" and the kind of hell on Earth that needs to happen to shake the legs of a hardened soldier. Let me just say, I now have no doubt why some men can't sleep at night after some tours.

Attack is never far off and you always need to be ready

It's no doubt that this is a good documentary. It's honest and you get a really good feeling for what the men go through on the frontlines. I also think it does a good job of honouring the men who fall during the course of the film. Nothing too graphic is shown, so anyone worried about that don't need to be worried. Anyone who has an interest in military or war will really like this film I think. I could easily recommend this documentary to a number of my friends. Check it out if you have the opportunity.