Film Review: "Restrepo": "
Sgt Brendan O'Byrne and PFC Juan Restrepo in the documentary, 'Restrepo.' The movie ended, but I couldn't move. Sebastian Junger and Tim Hetherington had just taken the mantle from Ken Burns as documentary makers extraordinaire with Restrepo. This war documentary is a gripping chronicle of the lives of a platoon through some of the heaviest fighting in the Korengal Valley, Afghanistan.
'You can't tame the beast,' shouts the late PFC Juan Restrepo, the late Army medic for the 2/503 Battle Company, 173rd Airborne. He says this with the bravado one would expect of a twenty year old, early on in the filming. It's the beast within, which binds this platoon as they set to deploy to place described by CPT Dan Kearney as 'where the road ends and the Taliban begins.'
The viewer is taken, just as the soldiers were, to a steep, rugged, practically inaccessible mountainous valley.
What they find themselves in is gun battles --some days as many as seven, almost daily. Seventy percent of all bombs were dropped in the Korengal. The viewer is there through small arms fire, RPG's, an IED, death, shuras, encounters with locals, and when the guys blow steam. The filmmakers pull off the amazing --by focusing purely on the men and not cutting in with interviews with higher ups not on location, they present war without the politics or ideology which most assuredly divides. This is war. The dirt, heat, snow, daily battles, boredom, fear, tragedy in all its rawness, which makes it ring true.It is also seamless film making. Until one of the soldiers yells to the camera 'get down' during a gun battle, one all has forgotten that either Junger or Hetherington were filming. But the two stuck with it. They were
there when the platoon built and moved into the new COP and when one soldier wasn't sure naming it after their fallen soldier PFC Restrepo really fit the honor he deserved. The filmmakers were there during Operation Rock Avalanche where the platoon were ambushed, and one of their most beloved leaders was killed. Lastly, they were there at the very end of the deployment, when the same soldier decided that yes, the COP had taken shape as a place where their friend Restrepo had been well honored. However, make no mistake, nothing --from the soldiers to the war, is glorified.It saddens me greatly that there are many who believe any mention of soldiers beyond the stereotypical unthinking, amoral killing machine mold, assumes counter depictions are an attempt at glorification. The smart ones eventually question their presumptions and see the bigger picture. We who write milblogs are not only concerned with accuracy and truth, but showing the breadth of a soldier's humanity. We think a lot about how to present the experience between the goalposts of hooah-hooah and victim.
This is what Restrepo does so very well. Hetherington and Junger aren't afraid of the human condition through tough and dangerous times, through this the viewer witnesses the weaving of bonds between men who are very different from one another. This bond, strengthened by a commitment to survival is everlasting and sacred. It's something outsiders have a difficult time understanding, but Restrepo conveys it with love and honor.Junger's book 'WAR' fits nicely with 'Restrepo' to fill out a good picture of the struggles of combat. Used in tandem, these will be of great use by the armed forces to learn about the challenges soldiers face.
Restrepo opens in theaters 25 June in NY and L.A., with a roll out to other cities shortly after. Go to the Restrepo Facebook page, and don't be afraid to tell them where you'd like to see it play.
The Kitchen Dispatch
-----------------------------------------------------------Footnote by FaST Surgeon:
This film review on "Restrepo" by Kanani at The Kitchen Dispatch came on the heels of yesterday's PoD "Airborne Medics". As I said in yesterday's PoD, many of these active duty soldiers now have multiple deployments. To bring this closer to home, below is SPC Kelso. Kelso served with the 173d Airborne as line medic in the Korengal valley. He, like all the medics I've met here, is hard working, highly motivated and well skilled at his job.
Most of these men and women start off just out of high-school and get injected into Army "medic school". They are the 2nd most common specialty (68W) in the Army (the most common is 11B - Infantry). Once they're trained up, they're pushed out into some of the most intensely challenging life-and-death scenarios most of us can never imagine. We ask them to be "docs" in the field. Its a heck of a thing to ask of someone so young. They continually strive to learn as much as they can, as fast as they can. They meet the challenge. So once again - Here's to the combat medic. Hooah.
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| SPC Kelso - 68W Combat Medic - 173d Airborne BSB FOB Shank - Logar Province, Afghanistan |
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