Review of Restrepo (2010) by Mariam C — 13 Feb 2011

Restrepo follows B Company, 2/503 of the 173 Brigade Combat Team, which was deployed to the Korengal Valley, Kunar Provice, Afghanistan during Operation Enduring Freedom in 2007-2008. In the U.S. military, the new Counter Insurgency doctrine was just published and its writers were being deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan to revive difficult efforts.

And Restrepo shows what this looks like on the ground. The earnestness of the officers that the right thing to do is to change the old way of doing things and to interact with the population. Dealing with a local population that often is seeking to play both sides, but receiving regular death threats from the Taliban and they know what is best from them.

Working with the Afghan National Army, but not so sure if they are effective at all. And the many ways that they deal with the Groundhog day repetitiveness of an unbroken year in a combat zone. Restrepo gets the life on the ground in modern war in ways that entertainment pieces do not, and closer to the action and the fog of uncertainty inherent in counter-insurgency then other movies such as The Hurt Locker and Gunner's Palace.