(2010)
Afghanistan’s Korangal Valley is a remote, rugged region located deep in Taliban territory. It is such a volatile area that it has been dubbed "The Valley of Death" by American forces and “the most dangerous place in the world” by CNN. Restrepo documents the 15-month deployment of a platoon of men assigned to the explosive area. While there have been myriad documentaries released in the last decade addressing the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, none of them have offered the same kind of ground-level perspective seen in this film.
While the soldiers are fired upon every single day, they are still ordered to set up an outpost deeper in the valley. Under the leadership of the unflappable Captain Dan Kearney, they push forward. They set up a new camp, digging out trenches and setting up barricades. The only break from digging comes when they are suddenly faced with enemy fire. They fire back, wait until the shooting subsides, then start digging again. This world is beyond dystopian.The soldiers are the reason the film is so compelling. Their captivating stories, often given intimacy thanks to the use of extremely tight shots, range from nerve-racking to quite humorous. It’s not often that subjects give so much of themselves during interviews. This may be due, in part, to their relationship with the filmmakers. The soldiers develop close relationships with each other due to the environment they are in. They may have developed similar bonds to the filmmakers, who had bore witness to the same harrowing events over the course of the 15-month deployment.
It would be difficult to overestimate the risk that the filmmakers took in shooting this footage. British photographer Tim Hetherington and American journalist Sebastian Junger (author of The Perfect Storm) embedded themselves in the trenches alongside the soldiers for 15 months. They sacrificed their lives in order to provide this perspective from the front lines, an invaluable account for posterity’s sake. It’s delights the mind's eye to imagine the possibility of watching footage from the American Revolution, as future generations will have this priceless account of the current conflict.
official film site * trailer * buy it here
Trivial Tidbits:
- Restrepo received the Grand Jury Prize for best documentary at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival.
- Nominated for the 2011 Academy Award for Best Documentary.
