Restrepo was released in 2010, and follows the men of the Second Platoon, Battle Company, 173rd Airborne Brigade. This unit was deployed in Afghanistan and constructed an outpost in the Korengal Valley. The men and women deployed in the Korengal Valley saw the most combative action of any that were deployed in Afghanistan post 9/11.
Here's the trailer:
When I began to think about what I was going to do for my documentary, I assumed that there would be a lot of other people that have done what I'm trying to do. But when I started looking, I couldn't find much of anything that was following a soldier and his family throughout his deployment. Restrepo is the closest thing that I could find, and I think it has shed a lot of light on my research project.
I really like that there is no narrator in this documentary. I think that by not having a narrator it makes the viewer forget that they're watching a documentary, and feel like they're actually there. There were times when the boys were under fire and my heart was pounding because I was afraid that there would be casualties, which sometimes there were.
The soldiers featured in the film completely attribute their survival to the construction of Out Post Restrepo, which they named after Doc Restrepo who was a medic that died right after the unit arrived at the Korengal Valley.
OP Restrepo sits right above the Korengal. This is what it looks like:
Because the soldiers were able to get the higher ground, they were able to maximize their productivity while reducing their casualties.
This documentary really opened my eyes to what life is like for a soldier once they're deployed. I think the follow up interviews were what really made this documentary stand out. The filmmakers would ask them questions about what it was like being over there, or coming back, or losing one of their comrades. The responses were counter intuitive because a lot of times they would laugh while talking about something horrific, but the editors didn't cut the shot right when they were done talking about it, and the viewer gets to see the effects that this part of their life had on them.
This makes me uneasy about my friend's deployment, and continuing with this project once he returns home, because I think I may be too close to the subject, which could take a toll on the final project. But we will see.
