Restrepo [DVD]

Sebastian Junger first won recognition as the author of "The Perfect Storm", after which he was touted as the new Hemingway. Now having read the book, and entertaining as it may be, that is stretching it a bit. But he has used his newly won fame to branch out into another direction as a fledgling film maker. Together with British photographer Tim Hetherington, Junger spent between June 2007 to June 2008 on the front line in Afghanistan, providing reports and pictures on an assignment for Vanity Fair. As a result of this experience he also wrote the bestselling book "War" 2010. "Restrepo" was also born through this same baptism of fire.

The documentary follows the daily lives of young soldiers from the second platoon, `B' Company, 2nd Battalion, 503rd Infantry Regiment, airborne of the 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team, as they face a determined Taliban enemy in the Korangal Valley in the North Eastern part of Afghanistan. Junger himself says the film is no political or moral analysis, the camera simply follows the experiences of soldiers in daily front line contact with the enemy. This it achieves very successfully, and there are times when you want to duck beneath the parapet as the bullets fly. As an experiential viewer I was almost able to understand the fear that many soldiers must have regarding a bullet with their name on it. Tragically there was one for the platoon medic PFC Juan Restrepo, who was killed in early bitter fighting. Much of the action takes place at the besieged advanced outpost named after him, which had the feeling of a Fort Apache, Fort Zindernuff, being under constant threat of attack. It almost feels at times as if you are in an awful reality game, where your life is really at stake.

It was horribly fascinating to see American troops fighting in the same forbidding graveyard terrain that past armies from Britain and Russia had fought. The British are still of course fighting in Helmand. Korangal was dubbed appropriately the "Valley of Death" by US troops who fought there. On April 14th 2010, in a depressingly familiar story, the US military withdrew from Korangal having sustained unacceptable casualties for so little progress. Forty two US servicemen died fighting in the valley, and hundreds were wounded. Many more inferior equipped Afghan soldiers with poorer ballistic protection died. It was sad to see so many affable and impressionable young men thrown into combat in a totally alien environment, much as their counterparts would have done on D Day. One young soldier describes how his hippy parents prevented him from watching anything violent on TV. The camera then shows him putting down heavy fire into the valley. Life is full of strange contradictions, and it appears as if the mistakes of the past are being eternally re-enacted in a horrible merry go round. If you wish to understand what it is to be a front line soldier then this is the film for you. The film deservedly won the Grand Jury prize for a domestic documentary at the prestigious Sundance Festival in 2010.

I saw this film yesterday at the Harbour Lights cinema in Southampton, one hell of a film. Beatmessiah has already summed it up pretty well, it was visceral and emotional but also inspiring. Whatever the rights and wrongs of the war in Afghanistan there is no doubting the fine character of many of these young people fighting the Taliban is such difficult and confusing tactical and cultural conditions. And yes without a doubt the impromptu disco to Sam Fox's "Touch Me" is hilarious!

This documentary account of a year-long deployment into "the most dangerous place in the world" follows a group of soldiers as they fight in the Korengal Valley in Afghanistan.

If you have been accustomed to conventional war stories, or films, this may be a bit of a shock. There are no dramatic set piece battles, in fact you never see the enemy at all. The combat that is show falls into two categories - close ups of soldiers firing automatic weapons at unseen targets and calling in air strikes on distant hill sides, or the chaotic aftermath of ambushes where the soldiers struggle to regain the initiative of combat. In both cases it is never really clear what is going on. However, it needs to be said that this portrayal is not out of keeping with other accounts of this type of combat.

But in the end it was not the story of the foot soldiers - the boots on the ground - that was most remarkable, it was the behavior shown by the leadership of the men. In one scene the commander of Second Platoon is seen in a meeting with local village elders. In this meeting he constantly swears as he talks, and while I have no idea how literal the translator would be, I can see how this would impress the leadership of the village. Equally at one time he said (I'm not quoting here) - that you need to put aside all that has happened in the past and work with me on making things better - "I've wiped the slate clean here". Well that's a wonderful idea, but it's also deeply naïve. Later in the film the same leader talks to his men after a number of troops for their "sister platoon" have been killed. He basically tells his men that they will be back in combat soon and that they will be able to gain vengeance for what has happened - less than one breathe after that he invites his men to pray. It's a deeply disturbing scene that links violence and religion.

If you can take one thing away from this film it seems to be the idea that "lions being lead by donkeys" was not just a product of the British army in WW1.

Recommended, if somewhat uncomfortable, viewing.