(2012-05-01 15:05:25)

Catch the excellent "Sleeping Soldiers" on the DVD

All around great. Hetherington's "Sleeping Soldiers" is a creative multimedia piece that is the best approximation of PTSD burdened dreams I have seen. Watch the extended interviews also. These folks (journalists and soldiers) dug deeper than we have any right to expect to make and share this the documentary.

(2012-04-30 22:02:54)

Airborne Mentality

This review is from: Restrepo [Blu-ray] (Blu-ray) I read and enjoyed War, Restrepo was a must see for me, my nephew was in Battle Co during this period so it was personal. As a retired veteran of 24 years in the Airborne I was happy to see that the "Airborne Mentality" is alive and well, those who never served in the Airborne would not understand. The valley and the type of contact is bad news and this film shows the reality of this type of combat very well. The emotions expressed by the "trooper's" was real and from the heart; however, I felt that the CO was playing to the camera and was more interested in trying to look more like a warrior than he really is.

(2012-04-29 00:35:04)

Your Tax Dollars at Work

This review is from: Restrepo (DVD) This film changed my mind about the war. I've always been anti-war, but I was pro-military until I saw this documentation of a group of little dudes whose nonsense is being paid for by you & me. They make the kids in A Clockwork Orange look normal. This is what Amerika has produced: Even more empty-headed, video-brained little dudes who are happy to hang out in a band of dudes doing dudely stuff. The disrespectful way these kids talked to Afghani men who were old enough to be their grandfathers or great-grandfathers was sickening.See this film to see how lame the military is, in word & deed. Oh, & BTW, this is [...] stuff compared to anything in the Nam fiasco. Dudeville has to make it appear really tough when it's a bunch of kids acting like a-holes.

(2012-04-28 06:33:15)

One Of My Top 10

This review is from: Restrepo [Blu-ray] (Blu-ray) I saw this movie in the theater last summer and loved it. And decided I had to own it, too. Then I read the book WAR by Junger. That was awesome, too. I'm very impressed by his efforts to depict the struggle in Afghanistan.

heaveyeo

(2012-04-24 18:23:01)

"Over the top"

Gritty depiction of the (sur)realities of modern warfare. "the only hope I have is that eventually I will be able to process itdifferently." These are the words of young men thrust onto the frontierof a conflict for which they have no ideology for or real stake in,except for their own survival of identity and self. Plucked from thesuburbs of working class America before been repackaged as fightingmachines then sent to one of the most hauntingly beautiful places inthe world to play tit-for-tat bombs and bullets ground combat with apeople and culture they can not and will not ever relate to at a humanlevel. The embedded reporting is at a hearts and minds level with thesetroops. Living with them through their daily experiences that gravitatearound shoveling rocks around the mountainsides of the valley in orderto create an outpost that "is like a big finger sticking up at them(Taliban)" a task that gradually finds rhythm and purpose in betweenthe fire-fights and the monotony of their existence far from home. Theyare so insulated from the locals (albeit by necessity to a largeextent) that from the top level of command down there is not once anyeffort to reconcile their posting with any external reality. They aredoing their "job" for a "1000 dollar a month" pay cheque and dentalcare. Any passion that they display is confined to the security oftheir outpost and consists of avenging the death of their comradeRestrepo and "hitting them hard." They do not distinguish the localsfrom the enemy, and the arrogance that is displayed in the meetingswith village elders by the top brass shows how it is impossible forthese guys to ever consider the human side of the valley even whenduring a chaotic patrol/raid they call in air support and end updestroying buildings and innocent lives within in pursuit of the enemy.They never really see the enemy, they hear the enemy (sometimesmonkeys), they are told the enemies eyes are on them, watching themfrom the trees, they cannot see the enemy they obliterate with largecaliber gunfire, only witnessing the body falling apart as it is gunneddown from distance by one of the specialists form the outpost. There issuch a fine line for these guys between reality and "war games" thatthey get such an adrenaline high from combat, they have no idea howthey will reconcile that with returning home eventually. During the daythey play around like teenagers, wrestling, slagging each other off,smoking the hours away but "…the fear is always there especially atnight...". This group of soldiers have few if any qualms about thepolitical, cultural, economic or human forces and values which are coreto this conflict. They never question the fact that they are there,only when they can go home and let the next battalion take over. Themission was one which ended and will always be for them a testament totheir fallen comrade and the outpost resurrected and defended in hisname, but beyond that there is no achievement for them…except becomingmen – blooded by the US military in a war that has no end, that echoesthe clarion calls of the political elite and the industrial militarycomplex that has pushed this war and the concept of terror to the veryfrontiers of (sur)reality. They return to civilian life battle scarredand proud, but the scars are likely to last a lifetime, pride willraise questions at night, with the nightmares and the sleeping pills.I liked this movie, it is a brilliant war movie, one of the best I haveseen. It is hard to believe the USM allowed it to be shot and released.It shows the ideological hollowness of American foreign policy, merelya conduit for the arms industry. It shows the complete lack of culturalsensitivity and assumed primacy of American might and right anywhere itsees fit. The futility of war evident in this movie is akin to WWI overthe trenches stuff. What has changed in the past 100 years of war andthe incalculable losses incurred by mankind? Have any lessons beinglearnt? It appears that the lessons learnt are kept for those in power,those who manufacture war and provide a steady stream of toy soldiersand bogey men on the Xbox or through the media for which we can allfight against in our hearts and minds. The technological individuationof western society is clearly evident here, the soldiers using hi- techweaponry, us the audience using dvds to watch the embedded reporting ofa conflict that bears no technologically capable resemblance to thecausal factors in loss of life in another war classic, Gallipoli, and Imean that in the sense that we can all see this happening in the wiredworld, yet it goes on and on, it's going on. We are all telling them"right lads.. over the top, over the top!"

(2012-04-24 10:09:00)

Restrepo is a must see!

This review is from: Restrepo (DVD) I speak as a retired Veteran, and the father of an Afghan War veteran. This movie should be seen by EVERY American. These are not actors, but rather real troops in the thick of it. I saw this on TV and had to have my own copy. Watching this DVD is part of my own personal 2011 Memorial Day Ceremony. This is Real Time stuff, and what I think is a perfect tribute to the men who built, fought and died in Korengal Valley! God Bless you men!

(2012-04-17 22:32:46)

Not sure what's going overseas - watch this

Having worked for, or with, the military nearly the whole time our troops have been in Iraq and Afghanistan, none of the stories I've heard spell out what our troops go through in theater. This documentary may shock some - we're talking about soldiers "in the suck," and their language can be salty and none of the action is staged - but it's a real eye opener. Sebastian Junger and Tim Hetherington did a fantastic job of not only of getting the story told, but letting the soldiers tell it in their own words, and through their real, undirected action.The trailer for the movie and a shorter film, "The Sal Giunta Story," can be found on the HBO website (restrepothemovie.com). The USO's ON PATROL has posted several articles relating to Restrepo and Staff Sergeant Sal Giunta who earned the Medal of Honor while serving in the Korengal Valley, including "This is War," ()

ttaylor47

(2012-04-17 09:21:10)

If you already think war is a bad thing, you can skip this one.

The Perfect Storm (book) was a remarkably fact-filled account whichcaptured a bit of fishing culture, a bit of fishing-industrymicroeconomics, a few personal stories, and a huge dose of naturalscience. The presentation of the huge dose of science in an interestingand readable style distinguished the book from the never-ending supplyof best-selling drivel. The scientific anomaly of the perfect stormseemed also to survive the making of the movie, but perhaps that viewis biased for those who first read the book. Restrepo (movie) has nosuch feature. The stupidity of wasting treasury dollars and lives tofight over a meaningless spot on the globe is nothing new. The youthfulnaivetГѓВ© and the devastating emotional effect on those who experienceany real-life OP Restrepo have been popular in fact and fiction fordecades. Yes, it's tragic. Yes, we know. The cultural chasm between theold local Afghans (where were the young men - hiding in the woods withguns, perhaps?) and the self- righteous American soldiers might havebeen interesting had it been developed. But it wasn't - apparently notby the Army, so Junger had no chance. So let's take stock: the UnitedStates Army went over to a remote spot in a remote country, spentGod-knows how much money on destroying things, alienated the localpopulation, emotionally warped a few young men, killed a few people onboth sides, and left. Is that about it?

(2012-04-07 19:58:02)

Powerful, First-Hand Account...

There have been lots of films regarding the US involvement in the Middle East, and most were politically motivated, with comments about what is right or wrong, either about the war or about the government. Sebastian Junger and Tim Hetherington spent a year with a group of men stationed at a very strategic, unpleasant point in the Afghan highlands, and it's all about the soldiers. No mention of anything political, rather their concern to do their job and watch each others' backs. It's not pleasant, but beautifully filmed and very well presented by the filmmakers, who had no intention but to display the comeraderie of the soldiers involved, and the peril that might be. I've read other reviews, and can't believe the insenstivity of the comments. This film is about the soldiers and their duty, and little else. There was strife and unpleasntness, and death of comrades. Those guys were focused on their mission. I read reviews that criticized a crying soldier. That, to me, is probably the most outrageously insensitive comment I can imagine. These men have left their families at home, and have a new family of comrades-- the guy to the left and right of you are the most important people in your life at those moments, referred to often in the film. God Bless our fighting men and women. "Restropo" is not a political comment. It's about real people doing a real job, fighting for a land that means nothing to us, strategically, but in an effort to keep others safe; to keep our country prominent in its effort to promote freedom. The film has already been touted as an Oscar nominee, and I applaud the filmmakers for giving an in-your-face depiction of what's going on. I don't recall another film quite like it. Whether or not you approve of this crazy war, it's about time we had a film like this to see the experience that our beloved soldiers are experiencing. Highly recommended. UPDATE: Glad to know it's an Oscar nominee.

(2012-04-07 10:15:15)

Great film, rang true for me!

I just read a complaint ripping this movie apart saying: "The problem Ihad with this "movie," is that it was not much of a movie at all. Itseemed like two guys decided they were going to embed and then make amovie about their experiences, whether there were any experiences toreally show. We see a lot of forced shots where the soldiers reallyhave nothing to say" I could not disagree more, as somebody who hasspent a significant amount of time being deployed I was happy to seesomething that came off as real to me. Something that film makersalways miss in movies about war is the boredom. War is hell and war isf***in boring! You have to find ways to entertain to yourself when youare there and that is what they did.Aside from saying that soldiers have nothing to say sometimes thefacial expressions say it all, soldiers don't always need words toexpress what they are thinking. The anger that those soldiers had afterRestrepo died rang very true for me too especially when they talkedabout wanting to go out and get payback for what happened. It was coldand real.

(2012-03-31 09:03:02)

Personal view of the war in Afghanistan

I found this documentary on the experience of a group of soldiers in Afghanistan a bit slow. But it is illuminating with regards to how difficult life is for our troops overseas. They live in sub-human conditions and the peril to their lives is constant. What is so frustrating is that despite all these years - it's been a decade now - there really is no end to this conflict and men like Restrepo are being sacrificed for a cause that is very hard to win. That being said, it also shows how brave, resilient, and compassionate our American warriors are. Restrepo is a testament to their endurance.

(2012-03-30 09:33:58)

Amazing!!

This movie is simply amazing. It really makes you stop and think, it's like the concept of the hurt locker (being in the action) but yet its real. Let alone in the Koringal Valley, this movie is absolutely worth seeing!!

(2012-03-21 22:54:53)

Rostrepo

This documentary is raw, real, and emotional. It touches everyone in a very deep way and helped me appreciate what our men in uniform do. It also is 2 sided and not just some blood and guts video. Well done and deserves MORE awards!

(2012-03-21 05:20:23)

Deep inside human feelings

This review is from: Restrepo (DVD) Top ! Really interesting. A good view of war, human beings, their feelings, and the aftermaths of the decisions of our politicians.

dave

(2012-03-12 13:33:31)

Here is a true analysis of the film

This documentary is very poorly done.Notwithstanding the poignant nature of the subject matter, and, yes, my heart goes out to all our heroes who are serving,Restrepo fails to deliver, and is an extremely boring, disinteresting film that requires you to be partof the family of the main character or someone affiliated with the meaningless war in order to appreciate the film. A real bore. Sorry if i offend, but i must speak the truth.

lily-yo

(2012-03-12 02:33:34)

why everyone hates Americans

don't get me wrong...the American soldiers did their soldieringwell...the reality of what happens in the field wasfantastic...interestingly, the movie dispels any illusions of high techcapability/applicability in the conditions of the valley...they suredid a lot of shooting without hitting anything...OK, it was coveringfiremore interestingly, there was a total disconnect between the militaryand the villagers...a lack of respect, sensitivity and culturalunderstanding...you just don't speak like the soldiers did to theelders - zero respect with a we-tell-you attitude...and the soldiersdidn't get point about the cow - we'll give you its weight in rice -you've got to be kidding? ... and they "knew" it was the elders' sonswho were shooting at them...so like, shooting back will win hearts andminds?oh yes, the 'end' goal was to put a road in...i really wonder whetheranyone local wanted itbut give the US soldiers their due...they stuck it out and did whatthey were ordered.

(2012-03-06 03:28:46)

Watch It

I saw this documentary in theater in New York, and was impressed with it. It's raw, and real. You see these brave men in uniforms, tough and heroic. Then in the next scene they have their armor off and you realize how young the men are that battle for freedom on a daily basis. You also get a strong understanding of brotherhood...the level of dedication that these men show to each other to kill the enemy, regardless of political influences, as it's just them, the bad guys, and the valley. There's no plot, no storyline, no climax. Just an experience of what still exists right now on the other side of the world as you read this. A must watch. You owe to yourself and to them to see and know what goes on.

(2012-03-05 18:12:33)

Restrepo

This review is from: Restrepo [Blu-ray] (Blu-ray) I was there and there is no way to show how much sacrafice these men went through. This is an awesome documentary.

(2012-03-04 16:51:05)

Insightful and thought provoking.

I have to say that I was quite impressed with this documentary. It is wonderful to watch a film about such a hard and controversial issue and not feel as though I'm listening to a republican or democrat whining about problems that happen during a war. The film does a fantastic job of piecing together as best as it can a clear picture of life in a combat zone, one of the most frighting places I imagine a journalist can go on earth for a story. I'd recommend that people at the very least give this movie one view. Even if you don't like what you see, it will make you think.

Layne

(2012-03-03 19:31:38)

They'd go back in a second!

I recommend you read WAR, then go see this film. It gives us a "glimpse" of their reality. I can never know and can only try to understand. This film will help our understanding.