An Analysis of the War Documentary Restrepo Essay

Growing up interested in politics and foreign policy, Ive seen quite a few war documentaries. None of them were quite like Restrepo. This film takes its audience on the journey of an Army platoon in the Korangal Valley during the Afghanistan War. Instead of analyzing the events surrounding the war, the politicians making the decision to go to war or the ethical merits of the war, Restrepo focuses on the men actually fighting the war and the people directly affected by the fighting. It shows the struggles of men at war the agony, the boredom, the pain and how they face these struggles on a daily basis. Restrepo is a poignant war documentary that effectively portrays the reality of the struggle active-duty soldiers face in Afghanistan, something most Americans are very disconnected from. Restrepo is accurate and compelling precisely because all it intends to do is convey the brutal reality soldiers face every day. The journalists who film the documentary are literally right there with the platoon every step of the way. As A.O. Scott says, it is just a blunt, sympathetic, thorough accounting of the daily struggle to stay alive. It allows the audience to actually see a bit of what the soldiers go through, the reality of grim daily patrols focused on confronting an invisible enemy. Terrell Howell asserts that, The unequivocally greatest thing about this film is the fact that it has absolutely no political agenda. The lack of a political slant allows the documentary to concentrate on the experiences of the servicemen, and not which politician lied about what or whether or not the war was justified. The American public has largely forgotten and ignored the war in Afghanistan because they are disconnected from it physically, politically, and morally. Very few Americans are actually fighting in Afghanistan, and not many have family members who are either. Now that the United States military is an all-volunteer force, there is no...