Documentary "Restrepo"

skelliser

A new documentary will be out soon about a platoon who spent a year in Afghanistan. It has already one the best documentary category at the Sundance film festival.
Looks really good.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zvUdruvbdmI

Wicklowrider

Looks BRILLIANT. National geography behind it, the clips look amazing camera work etc.

punchdrunk

indeed I can't wait to see this

p1akuw47h5r3it

is it coming out on DVD or will the N.G channel just be showing it do you know??

m5ex9oqjawdg2i

That looks amazing.

frantic190

Have to say, it does look good, looking forward to seeing it!

m5ex9oqjawdg2i

Any idea when it's released? When can we watch this?

Puding

started showing on july 2nd in the US http://www.restrepothemovie.com/

PatsytheNazi

Shocking. Who says war is excitement and adventure.

jw93

Cant wait to see this, does anybody know if its available online anywhere??

m5ex9oqjawdg2i

Probably be another year or two before it reaches Irish TV.

If anybody has any information on this, when it will be released here etc etc, please post something. I think a lot of people would be very interested in watching this.

The Black Oil

Possibly mid October for a UK release http://www.launchingfilms.com/releaseschedule/schedule.php?date=today&sort=date#

Looks good, fairly..honest?

coltrain

anybody know which cinema is showing this cant find it anywere

Donny5

coltrain wrote: »

anybody know which cinema is showing this cant find it anywere

It was on in the IFI, but the run is over. You may have to wait for DVD.

coltrain

crap, think i'll have to, searching for it online, no were to be found online either.

Sugar Free

The release date on Amazon is the 29th November though you may find it elsewhere online before that.

siblers

Don't think it's out any earlier than that, although it may be shown on TV around then as well. I got the book (War by Sebastian Junger) which was written while the documentary took place, not got round to reading it yet though.

siblers

Almost finished the book. It's brilliant. Really looking forward to watching this now, book came with no photos so it'll be really interesting seeing the footage on screen.

pegasus1

You can see it on the national geographic channel on the 29th november

http://natgeotv.com/uk/restrepo

siblers

Brilliant.

pegasus1

have the book a while now....gonna read it before the 29th...:)

The Shtig

Yeah it's on monday at 9pm on Nat Geo, looks brilliant.

concussion

Raging I don't have Nat. Geo.

fastbowler

fair play to ye..Restrepo is now skyplussed!! I've been looking around for this for ages.

coolhandspan

best bit of real life stuff for years, 5 stars

Holybejaysus

Excellent documentary, you really got to know the guys after a while. But holy christ, it was shocking in parts. When the child was killed on the first day of the operation-I wasn't expecting that.

Also, when the Sergeant was killed on top on the ridge-just the reactions from the rest of the platoon said it all. The looks on their faces...it was if you were there yourself, just watching helplessly in disbelief.

Blitzkrieger

Jebus that Captain was a tool. I wouldn't let him lead a shift in McDonalds. You could see from the body language of his men that they thought he was a tool too. How the hell are you supposed to "win the hearts and minds" of the local people when you have ****wits like him treating the elders with such obvious contempt? He has the inter-personal skills of a bull elephant with a sore leg.

Very 'light' documentary. Covered **** all really.

Damo 2k9

Holybejaysus wrote: »

Excellent documentary, you really got to know the guys after a while. But holy christ, it was shocking in parts. When the child was killed on the first day of the operation-I wasn't expecting that.

Also, when the Sergeant was killed on top on the ridge-just the reactions from the rest of the platoon said it all. The looks on their faces...it was if you were there yourself, just watching helplessly in disbelief.

Next time would u please use spoilers ? :rolleyes:

fastbowler

Blitzkrieger wrote: »

Jebus that Captain was a tool. I wouldn't let him lead a shift in McDonalds. You could see from the body language of his men that they thought he was a tool too. How the hell are you supposed to "win the hearts and minds" of the local people when you have ****wits like him treating the elders with such obvious contempt? He has the inter-personal skills of a bull elephant with a sore leg.

Very 'light' documentary. Covered **** all really.

I was kind of disappointed with it after looking forward to seeing it for some time. Is it just me or do Americans come across as less professional than the Brits in these fly on the wall type documentaries? That kearney fella was a gob****e. Typical american arseholes.

coolhandspan

agree on kearney but documentary is pure class start to finish

Ronan Raver77

Saw this in the IFI a few weeks ago very very good..

coolhandspan

there seems to be no picking sides here, raw stuff from start to finish, you feel when watching that you are there.
no shock factor just brutally honest stuff. best bit of tv in years.
well done nat geographic

Kaizer Sosa

Have to admit I was slightly disappointed with this but only because I was expecting brilliance. Still thought it was very good. Loved that they just reported what they saw and heard, there was no editorial or agenda.

It was uncomfortable viewing throughout which is a compliment because I felt that I was part of the patrol and I could really sense the fear in all of the soldiers as they were travelling to rock avalanche. Really killed any romantic notions I had remaining about war.

I have to agree with the others about the Captain. He seemed like the most stereotypical jock/meathead example of brawns over brains that you could find. He was so condescending to the elders and didn't seem to have a clue what was going on. He kept asking his colleagues, "who the fu*k is ____?". Must be so disheartening being stationed somewhere like that with a leader like him.

Damo 2k9

Rock avalanche was the highlight for me, when the soldier who

got shot by an RPG and was tellin of how they were only 20 feet from me I tought that was something else, being hit by an RPG and being able to roll down a hill and hide without screaming in pain while enemies are only 20 feet away from him, fair play to him.

coolhandspan

in my opinion most tv nowadays is quick fix tv, reality big brother celebrity stuff. this was 10m levels above nything on tv at moment. didnt ask you to pick sides, no agenda just as it is. kids dying was gut wrenching stuff, you dont see that on tv anymore. this is a first in my opinion, compared to bland stuff carted out to fill slots. this show stays with you and makes you question what side you are on.

RMD

fastbowler wrote: »

I was kind of disappointed with it after looking forward to seeing it for some time. Is it just me or do Americans come across as less professional than the Brits in these fly on the wall type documentaries? That kearney fella was a gob****e. Typical american arseholes.

Haven't seen Restrepo yet but in a lot of the documentaries I've seen based on the yanks there always seems to be a certain level of "hurrah shoot first think later, let's go shoot some towel head sand monkies" type attitude. They get the job done, but mostly it seems to be through overwhelming firepower with an unprofessional attitude.

Now not to stereotype them all, there certainly is some great soldiers who do there job well with enthusiasm to do it well, it's just the unprofessional ones are generally the only ones who stick out in these documentaries.

concussion

What's wrong with overwhelming firepower?

siblers

People should definitly read the book, it just isn't possible to capture some of the events (especially rock avalanche) as well on film as you can in a book, overall I thought the Documentary was very good but I prefered the book as you get a wider picture of the whole tour of the valley and you get to know the various soldiers a lot better as well.

the bit where 5 civilians were killed at the start of OP: Rock Avalanche was fairly sad and quite pissing off, was that much firepower really necessary?

SamHarris

RMD wrote: »

Haven't seen Restrepo yet but in a lot of the documentaries I've seen based on the yanks there always seems to be a certain level of "hurrah shoot first think later, let's go shoot some towel head sand monkies" type attitude. They get the job done, but mostly it seems to be through overwhelming firepower with an unprofessional attitude.

Now not to stereotype them all, there certainly is some great soldiers who do there job well with enthusiasm to do it well, it's just the unprofessional ones are generally the only ones who stick out in these documentaries.

It seems UK troops arent tought of as much compared to the US ones, regardless. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-11906147

Manic Moran

The kicker is that we in the US Army think our leadership is too casualty-averse, and we all believe that every other country's military's leadership is far more casualty-averse than ours.

But ultimately, to get the job done, you need to take risk. And fight, if needs be.

NTM

InReality

I think the whole reason they were in that area was daft , and the captain knew it. at the same time he wasn't great himself. the col was a much more impressive figure.

m5ex9oqjawdg2i

RMD wrote: »

Haven't seen Restrepo yet but in a lot of the documentaries I've seen based on the yanks there always seems to be a certain level of "hurrah shoot first think later, let's go shoot some towel head sand monkies" type attitude. They get the job done, but mostly it seems to be through overwhelming firepower with an unprofessional attitude.

Now not to stereotype them all, there certainly is some great soldiers who do there job well with enthusiasm to do it well, it's just the unprofessional ones are generally the only ones who stick out in these documentaries.

One of them has been nominated (and recieved since) the congressional medal of honor...

AbusesToilets

Manic Moran wrote: »

The kicker is that we in the US Army think our leadership is too casualty-averse, and we all believe that every other country's military's leadership is far more casualty-averse than ours.

But ultimately, to get the job done, you need to take risk. And fight, if needs be.

NTM

Sadly, that is the unfortunate truth, as anyone who has ever had to wait on Coalition CAS or fire support could testify to :P

draoicht

Ana Tinkling Traveller wrote: »

One of them has been nominated (and recieved since) the congressional medal of honor...

Heres a 14 minute film from the makers of Restrepo about the incident in which he won the Medal of Honour.
I don't remember it being covered in the documentary though I've read the book and it's in there.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=50RFJfUzNsY

RMD

Ana Tinkling Traveller wrote: »

One of them has been nominated (and recieved since) the congressional medal of honor...

Please read again what I said. I said I hadn't seen the documentary yet so I wasn't commenting on this particular bunch, just from what I had seen in other documentaries about the American army. I also said it's only the unprofessional who stand out in these documentaries, but there is plenty of soldiers who do there job well. I wasn't in anyway labeling the Restrepo group.

Manic Moran

I don't think there's anything unprofessional about being enthusiastic about the concept of shooting the enemy. You really should only use the 'unprofessional' label if they actually do shoot people un-necessarily or otherwise fail to accomplish their mission by way of unprofessionalism.

As a character trait, Americans are somewhat boisterous, so they may be a little more 'in your face' about their feelings when on the base than their British counterparts. The true test of professionalism is how they control themselves in the field, and the overwhelming majority do quite well.

NTM

RMD

Manic Moran wrote: »

I don't think there's anything unprofessional about being enthusiastic about the concept of shooting the enemy. You really should only use the 'unprofessional' label if they actually do shoot people un-necessarily or otherwise fail to accomplish their mission by way of unprofessionalism.

As a character trait, Americans are somewhat boisterous, so they may be a little more 'in your face' about their feelings when on the base than their British counterparts. The true test of professionalism is how they control themselves in the field, and the overwhelming majority do quite well.

NTM

Ye boisterous sounds much more like the correct term than unprofessionalism , sorry if any offense was found.

Manic Moran

Finally got around to watching it. Not overwhelmingly amazing, I didn't think, but interesting.

I didn't think the captain was all that bad, actually. I'd have been a tad more diplomatic in meetings with the locals, but that's about it.

NTM

The Shtig

Manic Moran wrote: »

I didn't think the captain was all that bad, actually. I'd have been a tad more diplomatic in meetings with the locals, but that's about it.

NTM

That was what I found wrong with him, if he's suppose to be trying to get them to understand that they're trying to help them it's not going to work the way he was speaking to them. It's not one of his qualities but they need someone who can communicate well and isn't as autocratic otherwise it's a waste of time imo.

Local-womanizer

Manic Moran wrote: »

I didn't think the captain was all that bad, actually. I'd have been a tad more diplomatic in meetings with the locals, but that's about it.

NTM

Same here,I thought he was very ignorant in the meetings with the elders. His own boss I felt handle them much better.

Manic Moran

Local-womanizer wrote: »

Same here,I thought he was very ignorant in the meetings with the elders. His own boss I felt handle them much better.

Perhaps, but it's also to be noted that he knew when things required more than he could provide and called in his boss to talk to them. Knowing the extent of what you can do, and acting with regard to that limitation is a fairly rare and admirable trait. Too many officers would resist asking for help for fear of an impression that they can't do their jobs.

NTM