Posted on 11/29/2010 6:01:47 AM PST by shoptalk
Forget every movie you've ever seen wherein pampered Hollywood actors smudge their faces with dirt, rub on some fake blood and pretend they are soldiers fighting for their country and their lives on a remote and barren outpost.
"Restrepo," a documentary film that follows a 15-month deployment of the 173rd Airborne Brigade in Afghanistan - which is now the longest war in American history - is the real thing.
Filmmakers Tim Hetherington and Sebastian Junger (The Perfect Storm) were embedded with the small band of a dozen or so soldiers assigned to what President George W. Bush called "the most dangerous place on the planet" - Korengal Valley - situated in the remotest part of that remote country. (It was during this time and in this vast valley but in another company that Staff Sergeant Sal Guinta would earn the first Medal of Honor awarded to a living person since the Vietnam War.)
(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...
Unbelievable movie. I saw it when it was released at Fort Benning, with a crowd of soldiers......it received a positive reaction.
We have the book “War” on which the movie is based. My son watched it a second time after reading the book and the movie was even more powerful.
That looks like a winner.
Restrepo Trailer HD
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PCPnJaxC17o&feature=related
Winner of the 2010 Sundance Film Festival Grand Jury Prize for a Documentary, RESTREPO chronicles the deployment of a U.S. platoon of courageous American soldiers in Afghanistan’s Korengal Valley, considered to be one of the most dangerous postings in the U.S. military. From May 2007 to July 2008, Tim Hetherington and Sebastian Junger dug in with the men of the Second Platoon, Battle Company of the 503rd Infantry Regiment (airborne), stationed at Restrepo, sharing duties and shooting more than 150 hours of combat, frustration, routine, jokes, terror and bravery during daily life at the outpost. Hetherington and Junger, have made a film unlike any other about men in harms way. We see their courage. We experience their frustrations. We share their bonding. We hear the music they listen to, and we see the snapshots of their kids that they pass around. It is something that audiences have never before experienced. As they fight the Taliban, these 15 men win our hearts and minds in a way no fictional film can.
They use stringers who are locals and report what is reported back to them....agenda? Propaganda? Yes siree!
He is still around. He was kicked out of Afghanistan by McChrystal. He will be embedding back, as of today though he is in South Korea.
Tbhe “longest war” in Anmerican history was waged against the American Indian. We fought them pretty much from before we were a country until 1886 and 1890 [Wounded Knee].
Insofar as an individual tribe, we fought the Apaches, with nary a break from 1860 to 1886.
bookmark
I’ll once again recommend Ed Darack’s “Victory Point” which documents two USMC operations, Operation Red Wings and Operation Whalers, that took place in eastern Afghanistan’s Kunar Province in the summer of 2005.
This counter-insurgent mission in the Hindu Kush Mountains of Kunar province, Afghanistan, involved four members of the United States Navy SEALs on June 28, 2005.
Three of the SEALs were killed during the initial operation, as were other American Special Operations soldiers (SEALs and Nightstalker pilots) whose helicopter was shot down while flying to provide support and rescue to the team.
Marcus Luttrell, the only surviving American SEAL, was protected by local villagers who sent an emissary to the closest military base allowing a rescue team to locate the wounded SEAL.
“Victory Point” reveals the complete story of Operation Red Wings, and the follow-up mission, Operation Whalers. It is the story not of a mission gone wrong, but of a complex and difficult campaign that finally saw the demise of Ahmad Shah and his band of barbarous fighters.
Thanks to the valor of the 2nd Battalion of the 3rd Marine Regiment (The Island Warriors) in the summer of 2005, Afghanistan was able to hold free elections that Fall. “Victory Point” is the inspiring true account of heroism, duty, and brotherhood between Marines fighting the War on Terror.
“Victory Point” was named one of the 20 best books of 2009 by the United States Naval Institute. It’s now out in paperback and Darack is slated to once again embed with the 2/3 on their current deployment.
I saw it on cable a couple of days ago. Very powerful and moving. Also makes you think that with guys like these, America is not yet lost.
I know we see and hear a lot of whining, especially from academia, but what people seem to forget is that these men are in their late teens and early twenties. They will be a force to be reckoned with as they age and mature.
This past election 8 Iraq/Afghanistan vets were elected to Congress, with more to come in the future. My son is in the Army and a good portion of his FB friends are military, ALL identify themselves as conservatives!
Thanks, will get a copy.
I recorded HBO’s Pacific and was watching last night. I told my wife the USMC always gets the job done without the recognition they deserve.
I’m an old Air Force guy however I want to say thank God for the marines!
I watched it this morning via Netflix. Riveting.
I just watched on netflix as well.
I saw a lot of personalities I recognized.
Misha Pembra Belkin struck me
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