The ‘actors” - the troops themselves, (live link below)
The writers/directors - long time war correspondents. Sebastian Junger (wrote “Perfect Storm”) and award winning Brit filmographer, Tim Hetherington.
They embedded with a small platoon of the renowned 173rd AIRBORNE, 2-503rd BATTLE CO, in “The Most Dangerous Place on EArth” - the Korengal Valley in the high Hindu Kush mts. of north eastern Afghanistan, up against the Paki border.
BATTLE Co., first deployment was a hellishly long 15 months, out on a spit of mountain side that they literally pick axed for shelter and cover - pick axed at night, fought by day. They were to fight through over 1,000 firefights in that first deployment, taking the heaviest KIA/sounded losses.
Junger and Hetherington were boot on the ground with the troops for a year - not the usual 2-3 weeks. They became part of the platoon, running, dodging bullets - junger was even in a vehicle that struck an IED and was wounded.
They simply filmed and recorded in REAL TIME - day by exhausting day, fire fight by harrowing firefight - as it happened. No script, no politics, no ‘brass’.
to keep Hollywood totally out of it, they submitted the film for possible showing at the Sundance Film Festival. Out of the handfull of documentaries (out of over 800 submitted) it accepted for showing.
It created a firestorm...and went on to win top prize: The Grand Jury Award.
National Geography has purchased the broadcast rights and will air it this fall. And the DVD will follow. Theatrical rights are still in negotiation, but it is being shown at film festivals in major cities across the country.
So if you are really interested in seeing the raw truth and the unimaginable bravery of our troops, without the spin, watch for “Restrepo” (Junger has also written a book about it, “WAR”, coming out in mid-May, available for pre-order on Amazon.)
RESTREPO the Movie:
http://www.restrepothemovie.com/
a review:
Thanks....I never heard of Restrepo.