7.6 | / 10 |
Users | 4.8 | |
Reviewer | 4.5 | |
Overall | 4.5 |
Accompanied by two embedded journalists, the soldiers of Second Platoon, Battle Company fight to build and maintain a remote 15-man outpost in the remote Korengal Valley in eastern Afghanistan, which they name "Restrepo" in memory of a platoon medic who was killed in action.
Starring: Dan Kearney, Lamonta Caldwell, Kevin Rice, Misha C. Pemble-Belkin, Juan RestrepoWar | 100% |
History | 66% |
Documentary | 43% |
Biography | 32% |
Video codec: MPEG-2
Video resolution: 1080i
Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.85:1
English: Dolby Digital 5.1
English: Dolby Digital 2.0
English
25GB Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region free
Movie | 5.0 | |
Video | 4.0 | |
Audio | 3.5 | |
Extras | 4.0 | |
Overall | 4.5 |
Is every century fated to have a “forgotten” war? The 20th century relegated the Korean War to a sort of netherworld, sandwiched in between the more remembered—for better or worse—World War II and Vietnam conflict. Now the 21st century seems to be repeating this syndrome with the Afghanistan War, which has been shunted to the sidelines by the more controversial and devastating Iraq battle. It’s rather ironic that the disputed reasons for entering Iraq to begin with should have elevated that clash into a higher public profile than the Afghani fracas. When you have a former Head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff calling the Bush-Cheney rationale for entering Iraq a bunch of “lies and deceptions,” that of course only adds fuel to the fire and further makes Iraq the focus for those who, though probably well intentioned, put political ideology above all else. Somewhere along the line, the American public has largely forgotten about the perhaps more dangerous terrain of Afghanistan, a country that is so barren and forsaken that it has brought virtually every interloper who dared to fight inside it to its knees, including, of course, the Soviet Union. Will the United States suffer the same fate? The story is still being written, of course, but we now have a devastatingly serious wake up call about what this struggle is really like with one of the most important documentaries of this or, frankly, any year, Restrepo. This incredibly objective—yet entirely visceral—piece, co-directed by Tim Hetherington and The Perfect Storm author Sebastian Junger, should be required viewing for every American, no matter what their political stripe, or how they feel about Iraq and Afghanistan in particular, or war in general. Unvarnished, frightening, depressing, inspiring—Restrepo is all of these and more and is one of the finest real life depictions of what day to day combat conditions are like ever captured on video.
Don't expect feature film hi-def wonderment with Restrepo, which comes to Blu-ray via an MPEG-2 codec in 1080i and 1.78:1. This "experiential" documentary was filmed under very trying circumstances, not to state the obvious, and as such a lot of the Afghan footage is relatively soft, sometimes grainy (especially in darker scenes), and suffers from the vagaries of battle-shot sequences, including shaky camera work, moments of confused framing and brief out of focus elements. All of that said, a lot of Restrepo bristles with excellent detail, with well saturated color and good depth of field in the Korengal Valley footage. The interview segments obviously look the best here, with excellent fine detail, sometimes heartbreakingly so, as when you can clearly see suppressed tears welling up in one of the interview subject's eyes. All of this said, while Restrepo is certainly not as sharp and breathtakingly detailed as studio shot features, one of course shouldn't expect it to be, and on its own terms, Restrepo's Blu-ray presentation looks admirable.
Some audiophiles will probably lament the lack of any lossless audio options on Restrepo, but both of the Dolby Digital tracks perform quite well within their lossy confines. The 5.1 track has some frighteningly immersive moments, with really devastating LFE. In fact the first IED attack, shot from within a Hummer, is almost certain to jar your senses and leave you suitably shaken. The firefights are viscerally immersive, with mortar rounds and automatic gunfire zinging to and fro from every direction. Some of the battle dialogue is buried in the ambient battle sounds, but that only adds to the reality of Restrepo. The interview segments sound crisp and clear with excellent fidelity.
There may not be a bounteous supply of extras on Restrepo, but a lot of what's here is top notch:
Those of us who have never fought in a war can't even imagine what day to day life must be like in combat conditions. Add in the barren and harsh reality of Afghanistan, and that makes what our fighting men (and women) go through even harder to conceptualize. Hetherington and Junger deserve major kudos for bringing us Restrepo without any subtext, no political posturing, and no "point of view" other than an up close and disturbingly personal account of how this conflict has affected a platoon comprised of disparate men. This is easily one of the finest documentaries on any subject I've seen, and it certainly sets a new standard for documentaries focusing on war. Restrepo unquestionably receives my Highest Recommendation.
1973
2017
2014
World War II in HD
2009
2018
2007
1970
2010
2020
2010
Shout Select | Collector's Edition
1989
1989
2014
Under Sandet
2015
1977
2005
9 rota
2005
1953
2017
2011