Named after a medic killed in a Taliban attack RESTREPO is a documentary featuring a tour of B Company of the 2nd Battlion of the American 503rd Infantry regiment in the Korangal Valley in Afghanistan in 2007 and documents the realities of life and death in a counter-insurgency conflict We've all heard of Afghanistan and we all have an opinion on it and this shows the earlier stages of the conflict . This is the problem with RESTREPO when it was released in 2010 in that it had a slightly seen it all before feel which is heavily compounded if like me you've seen it for the very first time in 2013 . Let me elaborate:
In 2006 Nato lost 193 troops in Afghanistan
2007 Nato lost 228 troops
2008 Nato lost 296 troops
2009 Nato lost 516 troops
2010 Nato lost 710 troops
All this makes very grim reading and a tragedy for the people involved . Afghanistan was the Mecca for journalists from all over the world to make a name for themselves for either decent honest motives or for rather more cynical motives . Either way the country and the combatants would be a daily feature on news and documentary channels and we've seen these type of documentaries before such as the BBC's few genuinely compelling documentaries of recent years OUR WAR . In effect - and I emphasise no disrespect to anyone - RESTREPO doesn't bring much new to the table and you're left with a feeling of having seen it all before
In 2006 Nato lost 193 troops in Afghanistan
2007 Nato lost 228 troops
2008 Nato lost 296 troops
2009 Nato lost 516 troops
2010 Nato lost 710 troops
All this makes very grim reading and a tragedy for the people involved . Afghanistan was the Mecca for journalists from all over the world to make a name for themselves for either decent honest motives or for rather more cynical motives . Either way the country and the combatants would be a daily feature on news and documentary channels and we've seen these type of documentaries before such as the BBC's few genuinely compelling documentaries of recent years OUR WAR . In effect - and I emphasise no disrespect to anyone - RESTREPO doesn't bring much new to the table and you're left with a feeling of having seen it all before