Great stuff, Scott. A film that has long lingered with me. At the time, I remember feeling like it was not just a great and insightful film about "the war on terror" and specifically the US adventure in Afghanistan, but that it felt like the definitive film about war in general and specifically the kind of men (in this case men) who are sent to fight our wars. Of course, I am no expert on wars, the military, soldiering, or even movies about these things, but what made the film so compelling for me, was not just how informative and enlightening it was, but how much fun it was to get to know these guys. At once, they are, collectively, the kind of stock soldiering types you'd see in any war film, but of course made all the more vivid and moving because they're real guys. A truly great film and one I hope more people check out. Thanks for sharing.
This is a great write-up and I am so happy to see some of my favorite OG AVClub writers! I’m hoping we can also bring back the classic AV commenters. Zodiac? Cookie Monster? The writing and comments on AVC helped me learn a lot about our pop culture and media.
This feels like a perfect example of what the substack model is good for. One of the most interesting things about The War in Afghanistan is it's complete non-presence in popular culture. The war was fully memory-holed by most people even while it was going on, which I personally find fascinating, but I am forced to assume that that very fact makes it hard to pitch pieces about movies like this to ad-supported outlets.
Scott, have you seen Junger's 2014 follow-up, Korengal? If so, what did you think? I've seen Restrepo a number of times and I agree with your take. Always been curious to see the "sequel," but never got around to it. I think I remember people saying it was more conventional in terms of documentary style & conventions.
Great stuff, Scott. A film that has long lingered with me. At the time, I remember feeling like it was not just a great and insightful film about "the war on terror" and specifically the US adventure in Afghanistan, but that it felt like the definitive film about war in general and specifically the kind of men (in this case men) who are sent to fight our wars. Of course, I am no expert on wars, the military, soldiering, or even movies about these things, but what made the film so compelling for me, was not just how informative and enlightening it was, but how much fun it was to get to know these guys. At once, they are, collectively, the kind of stock soldiering types you'd see in any war film, but of course made all the more vivid and moving because they're real guys. A truly great film and one I hope more people check out. Thanks for sharing.
This is a great write-up and I am so happy to see some of my favorite OG AVClub writers! I’m hoping we can also bring back the classic AV commenters. Zodiac? Cookie Monster? The writing and comments on AVC helped me learn a lot about our pop culture and media.
Marvelously written; a rollercoaster of emotion.
This feels like a perfect example of what the substack model is good for. One of the most interesting things about The War in Afghanistan is it's complete non-presence in popular culture. The war was fully memory-holed by most people even while it was going on, which I personally find fascinating, but I am forced to assume that that very fact makes it hard to pitch pieces about movies like this to ad-supported outlets.
Scott, have you seen Junger's 2014 follow-up, Korengal? If so, what did you think? I've seen Restrepo a number of times and I agree with your take. Always been curious to see the "sequel," but never got around to it. I think I remember people saying it was more conventional in terms of documentary style & conventions.