I've never been a huge fan of war documentaries. They always tend to be a little too politically oriented and lean heavily one way or another.
Restrepo is not a normal war documentary.
The way it’s shot is remarkable in the fact that it gets right up close as the soldiers are constantly engaged in battle. It’s almost like a soldier was wearing a camera on his helmet the entire time. It’s amazing to see how calm everyone is with bullets whizzing past at all hours of the day. At the same time, they seem to be fighting ghosts. The soldiers may get close enough (as I’m sure they did) to the opposition but the camera never does. The entire film is spent firing at an invisible enemy that’s mentioned but never actually seen.
The most affecting parts of the film are the after-the-fact interviews. The emotion and constant struggle with what happened in Afghanistan still haunts these soldiers. Most likely it always will.
3/4
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