Synopsis: 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.A very thought-provoking look at the war from the inside, told by the soldiers that were there. This is a very moving, emotional version of reality TV. The cameras put you right there where the soldiers are working, playing and dying. You are so right in the middle of the action that I found myself nervous and almost ducked a few times. Then there are the same sort of "confessionals" you see on most horrible reality TV shows, but they mean so much more coming from brave heroes who fight for freedom other than attention-seeking, fake-tan, wannabe TV stars talking about who they drunkenly plowed the night before.
During the scenes of fighting, the camera focused more on the soldiers and their actions than on the actual bloodshed and action. I'm sure partially because they wanted the human side of the story instead of turning it into a bloody war film, but probably also because during the intense battle scenes the men operating the cameras didn't want to get blown apart. There are real bullets flying and real injuries happening.
There's also no political agenda to this movie. It's just the story of the platoon fighting the war. You can hear the stories and thoughts and make your own conclusions here with what you are given.
Watching it made me want to thank every veteran I see because I'm sure there are thousands of platoons with thousands of stories like this one. It's pretty sad that I need a reminder occasionally of how brave some people are and who are willing to put their lives on the line for this country and ideals, but I just kept thinking about that while watching these guys, mostly in their 20s, struggle with their words and obvious mental anguish that they'll probably live with for the rest of their lives. While I'm sitting around watching movies and reviewing them on a blog.
8/10
