The MoFo Top 100 Documentaries Countdown

Funny. That Edgar Mitchell astronaut, who walked on the moon, just died.

Restrepo (Tim Hetherington & Sebastian Junger, 2010) +

This documentary about the war in Afghanistan begins as one of the most-harrowing-and-intense flicks I've seen in years. American soldiers are in the Korengal Valley and they basically cannot cough or raise their head without being shot at by the enemy. Yet, these are supposedly our most-strategic soldiers in Afghanistan trying to fight the war on terror. These opening scenes in the film make Vietnam look like a summer vacation picnic compared to Afghanistan. Many of the soldiers shown are obviously teenagers and that's another parallel with Vietnam even though we no longer have a draft, but it just seems like some of this country's young men are expected to sacrifice themselves for causes. In this case, I'm not really sure what the cause is, and I also am not sure if anyone in the governmentt can answer that question either. Perhaps now that Bin Laden is gone, we don't have to worry about THIS specific ordeal, but based on reality, I'd say that's not really true.

The film is called Restrepo because one of the platoon's most-beloved members was "Doc Restrepo" who was killed early on and the rest of the men try to honor him by fortifying their outpost and naming it after him. We come to learn quite a bit about these men, but as it goes along, the tension also tends to dwindle. It's always a good film and worth following but even when they talk about a later operation which scared the hell out of everyone, it doesn't quite have the impact as the opening scenes. Even so, I recommend this film, which Fiscal chose for me. I'll probably rewatch it before I send it back and update any comments if appropriate.

Restrepo finally another doc that was on my list. I love that doc, totally powerfully and not easy to watch, but a very important film. That should have been #1 or at least in the top 10.