It's May 2007. The Men of Battle Company 2nd of the 503rd Infantry Regiment 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team are deployed to the Korengal valley in Afghanistan for the next 15 months. It's one of the most dangerous assignment where they face fire every day from the Taliban. Filmmakers Tim Hetherington and Sebastian Junger follow them in their tour. Early on, Pvt Juan 'Doc' Restrepo is killed. They build a new outpost and name it OP Restrepo. The locals live in small hillside communities. Their loyalties are questionable. There is a dispute when the troops kill and eat a cow belonging to a villager which got entangled in the outpost's wire. There is nothing quite as tense as reality. There is nothing quite as emotionally powerful as men crying over their fallen comrade in the middle of a firefight.

A must watch if you're into war documentaries! Not much else I can say. Must watch! A must watch if you're into war documentaries! Not much else I can say. Must watch! A must watch if you're into war documentaries! Not much else I can say. Must watch! A must watch if you're into war documentaries! Not much else I can say. Must watch! A must watch if you're into war documentaries! Not much else I can say. Must watch!A must watch if you're into war documentaries! Not much else I can say. Must watch!A must watch if you're into war documentaries! Not much else I can say. Must watch!A must watch if you're into war documentaries! Not much else I can say. Must watch!A must watch if you're into war documentaries! Not much else I can say. Must watch!

From the opening scene of the youngsters in a transport plane, goofing and laughing about 'going off to war,' to later scenes of some wondering what the hell they are doing, we get an honest picture of young men in a battlefield — sometimes grunt labor, digging in rocky soil, sometimes guy-on-guy semi erotic rough housing, sometimes scary foot patrols at night. Two particularly informing sequences have one soldier talking about the "high" of being shot at:"You can't get a better high. It's like crack, you know. You can sky-dive, or bungee jump, or do kayak, you know. But once you've been shot at, you really can't come down… You can't top that."In the other one of the youngsters loses control of himself, scrambling and sobbing when they find the body of one of their best fighters. It's a credit to the film makers, and the Army, that this was included.Full review at http://www.allinoneboat.org/2015/04/15/restrepo- documenting-soldiers-in-a-war/

I have seen a handful of documentaries around Iraq and Afghanistan in recent years and even if I hadn't, the news networks do a very good job of providing constant footage from the front lines. With this flow of information there is the risk that one gets used to it, that seeing soldiers in a firefight is perhaps not as astonishing as it was and that the stories of one group of soldiers versus another doesn't really stand out as something different or worth seeking out. Restrepo rises above that problem by virtue of how good the access is and how intense the fighting is in the specific part of Afghanistan they are in.The film doesn't seem to have an agenda that it pushes to the point where it drags the footage behind it in the way some narrator-led films can. There is a point (or points) that are almost impossible not to take away from watching it, but the film lets you get there on your own as you watch. The downside of this approach is that it does sit back and just watch – not adding structure or constant narration to fill in the details and hold our hand, even contributions after the fact are pretty limited. This wasn't a massive problem from my point of view but I can understand why some would feel it was. Generally though this "in it" feel works very well, producing a sense of intimacy which the nature of the guys really fosters. The footage is tremendous whether it be inside meetings with locals or in the middle to a firefight, it is technically impressive but also harrowing and engaging.It isn't the perfect film though, because it does feel sparse in a way that works for it and slightly against it. The viewer is allowed to see everything but without too much discussion or probing we are not really sure how these guys coped and what effect it had on them afterwards, so there is still that divide that understandably no amount of close footage can close. It is well worth seeing though for just how good the access is and how clear and simple their documenting of this place and this time is.