Restrepo (2010)

“They’re gathering intel right now, basically,  on how to deal with us because they haven’t— there’s no real research or intel on how to treat us right now because they haven’t had to deal with people like us since WWII and Vietnam, you know, dealing with guys that are coming back from 15 month deployments with as much fighting, you know, as we went through. – Joshua McDonough

Number of Times Seen – 1 (25 Nov 2015)

Brief Synopsis – A very intense look at how war affects soldiers. Filmed during an entire one year tour of duty of an American Army platoon

My Take on it – Here is yet another amazing documentary that I came across by accident.

As a former soldier, I must say that there are so many things that this movie gets right especially with regard to the feelings of soldiers in a tight-knit unit.

Thankfully, I personally never experienced battle, but the emotions and friendships shown here are essential to knowing that you can always trust the guy next to you.

Some of the scenes are very graphic and they chose wisely what to show us and what to leave for the imagination but whatever is shown is definitely necessary in a movie like this one.

The way that this movie integrates both raw footage in Afghanistan and interviews with the soldiers after their tour of duty gives us two amazing perspectives on combat from the viewpoint of the men who lived thru it.

Co-Directors Tim Hetherington and Sebastian Junger both do a wonderful job making us feel that we really are in the thick of fighting and my hat goes off to them for their bravery in order to show us real combat like this.

This movie was deserving nominated for an Oscar for Best Documentary but lost to Inside Job (2011) (which I have yet to see)

Bottom Line – Excellent real portrayal of how soldiers are affected by combat situations and about the brotherhood formed during those intense times. Very graphic (necessarily) which might turn some people off to its powerful message. Really liked how they showed us real footage integrated with interviews by soldiers after returning home. Directors Tim Hetherington and Sebastian Junger do an amazing job of making us feel as if we are right there with the grunts. Highly recommended!

MovieRob’s Favorite Trivia – The movie’s title comes from Private First Class Juan “Doc” Restrepo, whose memory is also honored in the company’s isolated base camp, OP Restrepo. (From IMDB)

Rating – Oscar Worthy

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