Review of Restrepo (2010) by Caque A — 06 Feb 2011

Two film makers are given unlimited access to a remote U.S. outpost in eastern Afghanistan, close to the border with Pakistan, and record the heartbreaking story of what happens in 2007 when western troops intent on modernising a mediaeval country clash with the locals. The Taliban don't take kindly to the intrusion and shoot at the post every day. The major in charge of the post wants to tell the locals that if they cooperate, one day westerners will build a road into their lost part of the world and they'll be able to make more money.

Unfortunately, the western troops are backed by fighter bombers and helicopters who don't always hit what they're aiming at, so the U.S. commander has to apologise after civilians are killed in an air strike. The locals, with long memories of failed foreign excursions, have seen this all before and don't trust anything the foreigners say. After all, these troops are likely to leave soon. The extraordinary faces of the elders the U.S. soldiers encounter could come from the 14th century. Nothing much has changed since then in any case.

The U.S. troops mount an expedition deep into Taliban territory to cause trouble and end up being ambushed and losing one of their best commanders, much to the distress of the ordinary rank and file men. The camera is there to record it all. In interviews shot after the assignment ended, the soldiers and officers candidly admit how much stress they were under and the hurt it did to them. Some of these people returned to American society in a deeply damaged state. One has tried five different sleeping pills and can't sleep. Another admits he doesn't know when he will recover.

Perhaps the saddest part of the film is at the very end, when we learn that the U.S. army pulled out of that part of the valley in 2010. So it was a useless endeavour after all, just as the Afghan elders realised. The honest and pained faces of the soldiers talking into the camera just underlines the pointlessness of the entire mission.