The way Sebastian Junger wrote the article made it sound even more personal, how it was directed to Tim Hetherington personally. It shows how serious war media should be. I’m not saying every journalist should go out and risk their lives to get the news to people. Obviously, someone like a fashion or sports journalist would not be expected to do so. However it took pure journalistic passion of the two men to deploy themselves in Korengal Valley, one of the most dangerous places in Afghanistan. I found it interesting that Junger mentioned the two journalists’ affinity for risk. It almost made them sound like soldiers themselves, like the guy who talked about how he does not know how he’ll make it back in America because of his love for shooting guns and the natural high that results. I imagine what kept them pushing through the terror they must have felt was the idea that they were going to get the truth to those whom have never seen what it’s like for soldiers in Afghanistan Media like this helps the overall mindset Americans have towards war, in my opinion. Through documentaries like Restrepo, civilians get a more accurate impression of what war is like now. This could affect their decisions in voting for a president that might be anti or pro-war. Regardless of how it makes them feel, it educates their standpoint more. Seeing numbers of how many soldiers died in a war has a temporary emotional impact, but not a lasting one. We see them as just numbers in a battle against the enemy. Through the documentary, we see them as human, not only in combat, but also eating and joking around with friends. The most affective scenes, in my opinion the ones in which the soldiers mention their family, like when the guy is working on his gun talking about his ranch back home. Also, when they are in the mess hall wrestling around with the cook, we get to see the human aspect of the soldiers. This might not be all too much of a change for someone whose family member is in the service, but for me the documentary provided a good outlook on men at war and the emotional effects that result.
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What I found fascinating and brave about this documentary were the directors pursuing their journalistic passion out on the frontlines to bring attention to conflict risking their likes soldiers. I feel as thought watching this documentary has made me see feel so appreciative of our troops for all they do for our country. I definitely agree that its documentaries like Restrepo provide civilians with an uncut impression and hardships of what war is like; it also opens the viewers to the soldier’s views and the emotional experiences at war. Other than watching how this platoon preparing for operations or in combat, we see this platoon bond as a family, joking around with friends or wrestling. Which I agree show that human aspects of these soldiers.
ReplyDeleteI agree with both of you. This documentary definitely showed a side of soldiers that most of us don’t know. It was very effective to show them doing things like wrestling or playing guitar together. I especially liked the part where a soldier is telling how Restrepo taught him a few cords and, although he isn’t good at playing guitar, you can appreciate the fact that he places the value not in what Restrepo taught him, but in the fact that Restrepo did teach him. To me, that was a very powerful example of the bond that soldiers develop. When the soldiers wrestle, they display not only the bond but how the bond is formed. They pit the younger troops against each other in hope that it will make them tougher on and off the battlefield. It shows that they care about how their fellow soldier will conduct himself under fire, and around other people.
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