Restrepo delivers a gut-punch of raw emotion, pulling us into the fraught world of U.S. soldiers stationed in Afghanistan’s Korengal Valley without the gloss or polish of typical Hollywood war narratives. The filmmakers deserve credit for shedding light on the visceral, unvarnished realities our troops faced—fear, camaraderie, and the sheer grind of survival in a place where danger lurks behind every ridge. Yet, while the combat scenes are gripping, their frantic editing leaves us feeling just as disoriented as the soldiers, a likely intention but one that sacrifices clarity for chaos. And then there’s the ending—an abrupt fadeout that feels less like a closing statement and more like being kicked out of a conversation mid-sentence. Restrepo excels at making us feel, but it stops short of tying those feelings into something more reflective or definitive. Still, for what it shows us—confusion, exhaustion, and the human cost of war—it’s a critical piece of cinema, even if its narrative resolution is MIA. 7.1/10

The fact is that no negociation with the evil is useful. The only alternative is the helleno-buddhic reconquest of the pure land. This is the way.

This is what it really looks like out there. Documentaries should have less narration like this one, it feels much less biased that way. They are just showing you what happens out there.

this was one of the best, if not the best, war documentaries I've ever seen. Everyone should see this to get an idea of what these men go through. And don't forget to see the second documentary that follows up with them after they are out of the army.

Restrepo is a great documentary with a great insight on how the men were living in a combat area. Its a unique documentary with lots of emotions and feelings. I recommend this documentary for those who love to see how soliders are living in a area full of enemies.

A soldier's life is never easy. The documentary show the things they face, their dramas and, most importantly, their humanity.

Tim Hetherington and Sebastian Junger Did an amazing job showing the people who go to war as more than just killing machines. Photo journalism at its finest. (Because much of the film detailed Hetherington's camera work.

9/25/18 - gave it 4 stars

Puntaje Original: 6.5 Una sincera visión al interior de un pelotón que hacen de la guerra mas que geopolítica, Personal.

Legal. Mas não vi nada de mais no documentário, nada que me surpreendeu.

It's not much about the war, but nor is it focused on combat. It's perfectly pitched at their experience of being a soldier. You get to see and understand how they live, and the big picture goes only as far as the tactics where they're fighting.

Tedious and ultimately disappointing documentary for me.

Absolutely phenomenal. My words here will not do justice to the movie itself. Go see it.

Sebastian Junger, what a brave, brave journalistic filmmaker! His 2007 documentary covers the mission of a band of army soldiers on a mission to rid the Korangal Valley in Afghanistan of the Tabilan. The troops endure constant fire from a barely visible enemy while attempting to aid complicit and innocent villages and capture/free more occupied territory. Comrades die, get wounded, build an outpost in hostile territory surrounded on all sides while trying to maintain their sanity. Their mission, to the extent that it is successful, seems overwhelming and terrifying.. Junger travels with the soldiers directly into combat captured get their time on tour and then cuts to personal interviews once the men have been sent back to Italy. The toll of their perhaps excruciatingly difficult mission ways heavy on the men yet Junger's sympathetic interviews humanize them and attests to their skill, discipline and frailty.

Intense, engaging war documentary. A documentary covering a deployment of Battle Company, 2nd Battalion, 503rd Infantry Regiment, 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team in 2007-8. The deployment lasted 15 months and was at one of the most dangerous places on earth - certainly the most dangerous place, at the time, for US forces: the Korengal Valley in Afghanistan. Journalist Sebastian Junger and photojournalist Tim Hetherington was embedded with the 2nd Platoon of B Company and captures their daily lives, the action, the military strategy, the interaction with the community and the tragedy. An engaging documentary that captures very well the intensity, suddenness and randomness of combat, and what it can do to those involved. We also see the diplomatic complexities that the US forces have to overcome, as they try to keep the civilian population onside while at the same time treating them with suspicion and occasionally accidentally injuring them and/or disrupting their lives. The trauma of taking casualties, especially fatalities, is well explored, as is the bond between the soldiers which makes the casualties harder to take. A well-made, bravely-filmed documentary with no political agenda (which is a good thing).

The most close-hearted, "on the battlefield" war documentary I've ever seen so far.

Brutal, heart wrenching, gut churning. One of the most remarkable docs I've seen.

Highly recommended. People need to realize that many western nations and especially the US are ill suited for warfare in foreign countries. We are dealing with a very real clash between two kinds of civilizations in this movie: that of western idealism of there being a clear right and wrong, versus the tribalism of rural Afghanistan, governed by the Taliban. There's no way they can approach the war from a problem-solving standpoint, try as they might, because they've been pressured and brought up by the media to fear terrorists and to sublimate that fear into dutifully carrying out a mission. This detachment affects every type of soldier, even the one with a sense of hyper-focus and initiative. Fear does the opposite of what one might think, which would be to prepare young men and women for the constant imminent danger that pervades any war zone. Whereas, members of a tribal village like the one in Korengal Valley, are deeply familiar with the feeling of fighting in a war, and as a result they are not so emotional or confused about why they are there. Hence, the utter pointlessness of war, as one critic pointed out..

Pretty decent film. But it didn't really grab my attention until the end. The filmmaker really put effort into filming the movie and I applaud them for that. But, it doesn't really show the individual soldiers on their own too often. I didn't really feel an emotional attachment. But, I thought it was a great movie that showed the work that the military does to support our country.

An incredibly humanizing look at the soldiers on the ground in Afghanistan, Restrepo is a compelling and visceral look at modern warfare. Here we have humans as much as we have soldiers. They're afraid and they're brave, their complicated and tough and they come from everywhere. We see them live and die and move from incredible moments of terror and adrenaline to those of pure euphoria.