Movie of the Day – Restrepo

I wondered if I would ever decide to pick this as a movie post one day.  Ever since I have seen the documentary, it has been this grim and stark reminder of this on going war.  While I can sit on the sidelines like most Americans and critique the war from the safety of an arm chair and thousands of miles between me and mortar fire, it doesn’t seem fair to really just push this aside.  I don’t know too many people  that are in the military.  It’s not that I avoid militaristic folks, but rather just never been in the situation in which I would personally interact with an officer.  I only personally know of my friend Heather’s husband Luke, who has sometimes told me about things he has experienced while deployed.  I can’t say that I feel his pain as it would be disingenuous to compare my civilian life with one who is serving.  I try and listen and understand, but truly we don’t know what it’s like over there.  We can watch all the news clips and talking points, but it doesn’t matter.

To me, being a person who watches every documentary that is available, every war movie and every facet of military presentation would be ready to watch a documentary that is about a group of soldiers in combat.  While I can split the difference between reality and storytelling, seeing Restrepo is something a bit more daunting.  It is about a group of soldiers, real people, being placed in a deadly location and we watch.  We watch what becomes of them during a time of war.  It’s real and it’s frightening.

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