I haven't figured out what Restrepo means before. It took 10 minutes to understand. This is the last name of Juan'Doc' Restrepo, a soldier in a combat platoon of the 173rd Airborne Brigade of the US Army, followed and shot in the movie. This team was sent to the Korengal Valley in Afghanistan in 2007-this is one of the most heavily used fronts for the US military on the Afghan battlefield. According to team leader Kearney, in the first few months after the war in Afghanistan, 70% of the ammunition used by the US military in Afghanistan was used in the Korengal Valley. Restrepo was shot and killed in a crossfire just a few weeks after entering the Korengal outpost (Outpost, or OP). In order to commemorate him, the comrades grabbed a new position in the subsequent advancement and named the outpost after him.
The whole movie is a record of what happened during the year that the team stayed in Korengal.
The war felt very, very unrealistic from the very beginning. More than a dozen team members came to OP by helicopter over the mountains. It was a fortification on the flat ground halfway up the mountain. A few temporary houses, a line of defense built with mounds of dirt, and then there was nothing. The camera was aimed at the village in the opposite valley several times. Following the voice of the captain, I learned that most of the Afghan residents live scattered in those dirt houses (very similar to the farm houses I have seen in Gansu). The remaining Taliban troops are hiding on the top of the mountain and in the jungle further south. There is no picture of a Taliban soldier from the beginning to the end of the movie. From time to time, rockets and scattered ammunition fired by the Taliban will come out from nowhere. Then everyone on guard, began to fight back, sometimes calling for air support. Because they are so far apart, most of the fighting takes place between valleys. American soldiers have sights and high-powered binoculars. Using these equipment, they use machine guns to attack enemies in the distance.
In the interview, a fat American soldier said: "When I first came, I thought, FXXX, have all the bad guys in Afghanistan come here? Why are people firing at us every day? Aren't we here to help the good guys? ?"
So why are the US troops here? The team leader explained that what they believed was to patrol to ensure the safety of future trade routes, and to push the Taliban further south by continuously advancing the front. In fact, the US military knows very well that they cannot win this battle without the support of the local Afghan people. Therefore, every week, the captain will invite all the elders in the village to "talk" to convey the mission of the US military and hope to get help. In the movie, the team leader and the elders talked about tea, each person gave a bottle of purified water, and then offered a condition: "We will guarantee to bring more employment opportunities to increase your income. But you have to tell us what the Taliban are hiding in. What's wrong." Although the interpreter was present, the elders were still expressionless, stroking their red beards (the first time they knew that the people who dyed their beards red meant that they had been to the holy place of Mecca on a pilgrimage).
From the beginning to the end, the team leader was unable to communicate with the elders smoothly. Although he actively conveyed the US military information, no one cared to give a definite answer. If you want or don't, it's definitely still negative. The locals would come to complain about claims because the Americans killed their cattle, but no one talked about anything about the Taliban. It is a pity that although I saw the life of Afghans for the first time through the lens, the director did not intend to go deep into the hearts of the locals. No local people were interviewed. Even a considerable number of local ideas and translators employed by the US military were not interviewed or appeared in the final list of the film.
In this way, in a deserted valley, a big man led a group of big boys to live for a year. In their free time, they will dance to the music in the iPod, play the guitar in the sunset, and even repeat the game on the PSP. For them, war is a profession and at the same time an unknown. They remember the family like all ordinary people, hung up the phone to greet them when their parents and children were on the day, and conceal the pain of their comrades' sacrifices. The most direct emotional expression in the film is that during a large-scale joint operation, V, the best soldier in the squad, died from a bomb on the top of a mountain. No one of his comrades could face his corpse, and the friend who came after hearing the news burst into tears holding the body bag.
But just the day before, the bombing by the air force accidentally wounded local children and killed 7 local civilians. When the elders questioned the team leader, "You said you want to fight the Taliban, I'm telling you that there is no one who you did not believe, but killed us!" And the team leader always said that he would "wipe the slate clean" of the old account. It sounds very ironic. There has never been a clean slate.
The teammates in the team formed a deep bond in a year. This is another emotion that transcends friendship. The director captures the subtle manifestations very well. It's just that for me, facing the boundless mountains and speechless Afghans, this uncaused war can't make people feel the slightest relief, even if it is the friendship of life and death.
Original: http://www.makzhou.warehouse333.com/2010/07/10/2383/ (requires over the wall)
2011/4/20 update, today’s news reported that director Tim Hetherington died in Misurata, Libya information. He reported on civil wars between rebels and government forces in Libya. Mourn.
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