I was a member of Battle company during this deployment. They gave us a helluva fight. "Korengal" makes a nice complement to "Restrepo" and should be an eye-opener for anyone curious about what guys go through in Afghanistan. My only complaint is I wish there was more action in it. I recently just published and e-book about it (available on Kindle, Nook, Kobo & Smashwords) entitled "To Quell The Korengal" if anyone is interested in reading more about it.www.amazon.com/Quell-Korengal-Darren-Shadix- ebook/dp/B0197IIPVQ/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1449888085&sr=8- 1&keywords=to+quell+the+korengal

Director Sebastian Junger tries to add more depth to the documentary Restrepo he made with Tim Hetherington. In the meanwhile, Tim dies while filming in Misurata, Libya. This one delves more into the troops' feeling and the war's effectives on them. For me, it touches on too much of the same subject. It's the same place at the same time. Restrepo came earlier and feels more immediate. It was closer to the events and was more visceral. I appreciate the attempt to dive deeper into this world. I would suggest concentrating on one or two characters. It would allow the audience to truly track the development and the change in these troops over time. The footage may not be there but they could do interviews with some of these guys back home. It is eye opening to see everybody say that they rather be back in the Korengal valley. However the movie really needs the 'Where are they now?' segments.

2010's Restrepo brought the Afghanistan War in to peoples' homes, bearing visceral shots and the raw emotion of modern warfare. Photojournalist Tim Heatherington and Sebastian Junger spent ten months with Combat Outpost (COP) Restrepo's "Battle Company" reaping an inordinate amount of footage. More footage than they could place into the first documentary. A year later, Heatherington would be dead; killed by shrapnel whilst covering the 2011 Libyan Civil War. Junger felt that the copious amount of footage leftover from Restrepo lent itself to another film. Thusly, Korengal, a companion film, was born.Where the prior of the pair seemed aimed to illustrate Chris Hedge's 2002 quote, "The rush of battle is a potent and often lethal addiction, for war is a drug, one I ingested for many years," the latter shoots to exploit a more poignant and familial sense from the footage and interviews. For those familiar with Restrepo, do not expect anything revolutionary here. What you will be seeing is footage shot during the same time period (2007-2008) using the same equipment. That said, this is in no way a strike against the film. Junger fares well in his organization of the footage and new interviews. This is an altogether new narrative.As a piece of war journalism, it stands out as a worthy companion piece to the first film, not only elaborating on notions explored in Restrepo's 93 minute running time, but introducing new and arguably more meaningful elements. Junger succeeds in revisiting their footage, and bringing freshness to what could have become a dull supercut of Restrepo's outtakes in another man's hands. It's a damn shame Heatherington wasn't around to see this complete vision of the creation he and Junger set out upon in 2007. These two pictures have set the standard for war journalism, and will hopefully usher in a new era of the discipline.

Was shown made using a kick starter which makes it that more impressive for me with such a high caliber film. Its from the same prospective as Restrepo with the same Men and the same OP, but doesn't cover death and surviving, but more of dealing with boredom, how much they look forward to firefights, and how war effects you over a period of time to a point you begin to not care if you live or die. Its more physiological as Restrepo was emotional. At times it felt as a out takes of Restrepo but it really illustrates what war feels like from a theater seat. It places itself up there with Armadillo and Restrepo. Cant wait till its released on Netflix.