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Dan Kearney, Lamonta Caldwell, Kevin Rice, Misha C. Pemble-Belkin, Kyle M. Steiner ... see more see more... , Aron J. Hijar , Joshua. A. McDonough , Brendan C. O'Byrne , Miguel Cortez , Sterling J. Jones

Filmmakers Sebastian Junger and Tim Hetherington pay a visit to Afghanistan's Korengal Valley to spend a year with the Second Platoon, a besieged squadron who dubbed their stronghold Outpost Restrepo ... read more read more...in honor of their fallen comrade PFC Juan Restrepo. An al-Qaeda and Taliban stronghold, Korengal Valley sees some of the fiercest fighting in the War on Terror. At Outpost Restrepo, every shot fired is personal, and every target hit a gift to a fallen friend. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

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87% liked it

9,745 ratings

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96% liked it

109 critics

R, 1 hr. 33 min.

Directed by: Tim Hetherington, Sebastian Junger

Release Date: June 25, 2010

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DVD Release Date: December 7, 2010

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Flixster Reviews (1,162)

  • helpahorse
    December 16, 2011
    helpahorse
    This was an excellent documentary that gives an inside look at the war in Iraq.

    This documentary has everything including the firefights of war, losing teammates, being away from family, etc. It gives a lot of good insight about what the soldiers do there, why they are there,... read more and how dangerous it really is to be over in Iraq. This documentary was really scary and heartbreaking. The fallen teammates' stories were really sad and depressing. The fact that the soldiers saw their teammates die/get injured then were able to keep fighting really shows how strong they are. This documentary is a good tribute to Restrepo and I literally almost cried at the end. It was so sad. This documentary is by far the best I have ever seen. It's all true and it's right there in the action- in the most dangerous post in Afghanistan. This documentary does a fantastic job at showing the other side of the Iraqi war.
  • TheDudeLebowski65
    September 2, 2011
    TheDudeLebowski65
    Restrepo is a well made documentary about the last military outpost in the Korengal Valley. This outpost is surrounded by enemy Taliban Insurgents. The Korengal Valley was dubbed the dangerous posting of U.S Military. Restrepo is a very good insight into the combat environment of... read more what these men go through. Throughout the course of the documentary, we see two of their own get KIA, and the cost on some soldiers. The documentary is well done, this is as close to combat as any civilian would like to get the film manages to capture the real essence of combat, and the camaraderie that develops between soldiers throughout the course of their deployment. The film manages to give the viewer the taste of a combat environment. You experience the hardships that the troops undergo as they fight in the most dangerous region of Afghanistan. This almost a perfect documentary film, but in the end it felt like watching any other documentary or TV show on the Military Channel or History Channel. For what its worth, Restrepo give you an in depth taste of combat. I thought that the filmmakers did a great job at capturing the feel of battle, but where the film failed slightly was showing the real toll on the soldiers' state of mind. Most of them didn't seem that distraught. Only a few showed emotion talking about their experience. Restrepo is still an interesting film that shows the chaos of warfare, but its nothing groundbreaking. I've seen similar stuff before.
  • fb100001048934982
    June 22, 2011
    fb100001048934982
    As a message, 'Restrepo' does what it needs to do. As a film, it simply fails. This may be the closest a lot people can get to experiencing war, but its not enough. Throughout the story, something seems to not be in place. Maybe its the lack of story entirely. Whatever it is, Res... read moretrepo never makes up the ground for it.
  • xXGiNoBiLiPRXx
    May 18, 2011
    xXGiNoBiLiPRXx
    One platoon, one valley, one year

    This was a very good documentary on war in Afghanistan, it's very real and humane which is exactly what you want from one. This documentary isn't different from what we know about the war but it's equally important to see what goes on there. I ... read morewas eager to know why the film was named 'Restrepo' and now I know, if you wanna know you better see it... I'm just kidding i'm gonna tell you. The movie's title comes from Private First Class Juan "Doc" Restrepo, whose memory is also honored in the company's isolated base camp, OP Restrepo.

    Sebastian Junger and Tim Hetherington's year dug in with the Second Platoon in one of Afghanistan's most strategically crucial valleys reveals extraordinary insight into the surreal combination of back breaking labor, deadly firefights, and camaraderie as the soldiers painfully push back the Taliban.
  • kenstachnik
    April 22, 2011
    kenstachnik
    Want to know what it's like to be embedded in the most dangerous place on earth? Restrepo will show you what it's like and what it does to you.
    RIP Tim Hetherington
  • rubystevens
    April 20, 2011
    rubystevens
    an embedded doc about a year in the life of a platoon stationed at the furthest outpost of the korangol valley, afghanistan, considered the most dangerous post in the world, where they literally come under fire every single day. it's a wild and beautiful country, known as the gr... read moreaveyard of empires, that hasn't changed much in a thousand years. the battle for 'hearts and minds' is conducted at weekly shura councils, where our troops try to maintain a working relationship with local elders. it's rough going at best. no film can truly give the experience of being in a war zone but this is certainly an impressive attempt. ultimately the seeming futility is maddening

    edit 4/20/2011: tim hetherington, british photojournalist and filmmaker, was killed today in libya. he was 41. rip.
  • LorenzoVonMatterhorn
    April 11, 2011
    LorenzoVonMatterhorn
    "One platoon, one valley, one year"

    A year with one platoon in the deadliest valley in Afghanistan.

    REVIEW

    Filmmakers Tim Hetherington and Sebastian Junger take their cameras into the trenches... read more for a "day in the life" look at what it's like to fight in the Korengal Valley, Afghanistan, nicknamed the most dangerous place on earth.

    There, a platoon of battle-weary men fight the Taliban, an elusive spectre of an enemy that they rarely actually see. They seem to have little interest in what they're doing or why they're doing it; they only come alive immediately after a fire-fight (of which they have at least 3 or 4 a day), when the adrenaline of battle gives them a natural high. The rest of the time they spend going about their more mundane duties, feeling at all times like fish in a barrel.

    Late into the film, one of their men is killed in a battle that pretty much all of them agree was one of their worst moments during the whole period. Other men had been killed, but this seems to be one of the first that the men actually see die before their eyes. It has a devastating effect -- they collapse into sobs and turn instantly from fighting men into small boys, and our hearts go out to them with compassion and the frustrated regret that they have to live like this while the rest of us go about our cushy existence.

    "Restrepo" confirms what a lot of fictional accounts of the War on Terror (or whatever it is we're calling it now) have suggested: the feelings of determination and vengeance that got us into all of these messy military conflicts have long since given way to depressed resignation. No one is really sure what we're doing anymore, these soldiers least of all, and watching "Restrepo" didn't feel much different from watching a documentary about Vietnam.
  • flickfever
    February 18, 2011
    flickfever
    Catching up on the Oscar-nominated documentaries--this one was surprisingly good. I typically have no patience when watching war documentaries (hard for me to empathize). But this one was heartfelt and poignant without being (too) patronizing or (blatantly) constructed to emotion... read moreally manipulate the viewer (for the most part).
  • hunterjt13
    February 9, 2011
    hunterjt13
    This documentary's main achievement is its degree of "imbeddedness." Some of the shots that these filmmakers were able to get, under the harshest, most dangerous conditions, are absolutely incredible. We get to see soldiers taking and returning fire, and the action is so close,... read more so compelling that I almost expected a bullet to shatter the camera at any moment. Such scenes, truer than life, create a suspense that no action movie can imitate.
    The DVD cover contextualizes Restrepo "coming after The Hurt Locker," and this an apt comparison. Both films attempt to be apolitical (though it may be my liberal sensibilities that make me see both films as anti-war), and both films deal with the intense personal damage inflicted by armed conflict. These films present a little realized truth, one that Chris Hedges, whose quote serves as an epigraph for The Hurt Locker, so eloquently describes in War Is a Force that Gives Us Meaning. Namely, combat veterans become addicted to war, and this drug wreaks as much havoc as any chemical.
    Overall, though some documentaries are able to mold the subject matter into a coherent storyline, Restrepo presents soldier life in all its ugliness and glory, and what we come away with is the stark realization that both responses - ugliness and glory - can actually occur in the same moment.
  • YLOWBSTARDreturns
    January 29, 2011
    YLOWBSTARDreturns
    It's war. It's not Entertaining and I wouldn't recommend it to many people, but for those who can handle this subject matter, RESTREPO is a harrowing, haunting, and brilliant document.

View All Restrepo Reviews

Critic Reviews

Roger Moore
August 23, 2010
Roger Moore, Orlando Sentinel

At this point in all our Middle Eastern conflicts, we need more from a documentary than just a grunts-eye-view of the frustrating nature of the war. Full Review

Tom Long
August 6, 2010
Tom Long, Detroit News

A look at both the tragic folly of war and the camaraderie of men under pressure, the documentary Restrepo holds both hope and horror. Full Review

Lisa Kennedy
August 6, 2010
Lisa Kennedy, Denver Post

In hewing closely to the rhythms of war, Junger and Hetherington forgo different considerations about war. Full Review

Bill Goodykoontz
July 29, 2010
Bill Goodykoontz, Arizona Republic

The reaction of a soldier to the death of another - unvarnished, disbelieving grief so raw it's difficult to watch - is among the most moving footage of war and its cost imaginable. Full Review

Colin Covert
July 22, 2010
Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star Tribune

After the recent avalanche of pundit-filled advocacy documentaries about health care, failing schools and environmental collapse, it's a bracing experience to be trusted to think for oneself. Full Review

Peter Rainer
July 16, 2010
Peter Rainer, Christian Science Monitor

The relative formlessness of Restrepo is, in itself, a kind of dramatic structure. It reflects the stop-start waywardness of war in general, and of this war in particular. Full Review

Preston Jones
July 16, 2010
Preston Jones, Dallas Morning News

By keeping the focus solely upon the outpost and the soldiers who lived and fought there, the co-directors effectively seal the film off from any external influence. Full Review

Jason Anderson
July 16, 2010
Jason Anderson, Toronto Star

Though Hetherington and Junger's film doesn't ultimately have anything new to say about the nature of war, it will nonetheless have a strong impact on those of us fortunate enough to have experienced ... Full Review

Andrew O'Hehir
July 1, 2010
Andrew O'Hehir, Salon.com

A riveting, you-are-there, deployment to a godforsaken place where United States troops are pinned down by enemy fire almost every day... Full Review

Mick LaSalle
July 1, 2010
Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle

The filmmakers call Restrepo an experimental film; and in this case, the experiment wasn't entirely successful, but it was definitely worth making. Full Review

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