RESTREPO the movie

[jladdsmith]

Guys,

I watched this last night and it blew me away. 

Here's the director's summary:

The war in Afghanistan has become highly politicized, but soldiers rarely take part in that discussion. Our intention was to capture the experience of combat, boredom and fear through the eyes of the soldiers themselves. Their lives were our lives: we did not sit down with their families, we did not interview Afghans, we did not explore geopolitical debates. Soldiers are living and fighting and dying at remote outposts in Afghanistan in conditions that few Americans back home can imagine. Their experiences are important to understand, regardless of one's political beliefs. Beliefs are a way to avoid looking at reality. This is reality.

I streamed it from Netflix, but I understand that if you get the DVD version, it comes with about twice the footage and according to the reviews, the extra stuff is as good as the movie itself.  97% approval on Rotten Tomatoes and 4.3 stars from Netflix viewers (don't think I've seen anything with that high of a rating from either site).

Rotten Tomatoes reviews: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/restrepo/
You can preview it here:  http://restrepothemovie.com/

-Jonathan

[TimM]

We saw it a couple of weeks ago and I agree with your reaction. There's a little bias that shows through in the film but the merits of the film far outweigh those few (totally predictable) bits of bias.

[MikeA]

Saw it too. It's my opinion that we need to leave that sh** hole ASAP or scorch it with hellfire until nothing lives there.

[TimM]

scorch it with hellfire until nothing lives there.

Amen Mike.  Unfortunately it seems that we, as a country, lack the political will to actually fight to win any more.  Why fight if not to win?

[Steve H]

Why fight if not to win?

You only fight to win. That is the what the military should do, however, this is some geopolitical agenda that the military is executing according to whatever that agenda is, hence, we have what we have.

[grumpy]

Why fight if not to win?

You only fight to win. That is the what the military should do, however, this is some geopolitical agenda that the military is executing according to whatever that agenda is, hence, we have what we have.

That's right! I can remember some many moons ago when the CIA took care of that stuff quietly.

Grumpy

[Travis C.]

Why fight if not to win?

You only fight to win. That is the what the military should do, however, this is some geopolitical agenda that the military is executing according to whatever that agenda is, hence, we have what we have.

Totally agree.

I will post an article from the NY Times that ran not too long ago incase any of you missed it. It was wrote with the "Wiki Leaks" in mind as if the message was going from China here back to government China there.

It was very interesting to read and really left you a lot to think on. Of course it was total fiction but maybe not too far off from the truth.