Contemporary War and the Camera: The Images and Information Allowed

The scene I would like to call attention to in the documentary film Restrepo is when a native guitar player begins strumming a soft song, and the camera begins to cut between the soldiers in the Korengal Valley. This scene is interesting because it is completely opposite of the style the camera previously tried to create throughout the film. Up to this point, the camera was handheld, went in and out of audio, moved with the action, and presented an image that was seemingly unaltered and in the action. The story accepted the images received by the camera, even if they were very shaky, bad quality, lost audio, and did not explain themselves. These images were displayed so quickly and incomprehensibly that it was hard for the audience to make out a story of what was happening. The audience just accepted these images were footage of war. However, when this mysterious and random guitarist begins to play a melancholy song, the music is carried over to several other scenes of soldiers at the camp interacting with each other. The montage of scenes that follows the song could have been any footage gathered over the course of filming, and it is clearly edited in a particular way to evoke a mood from the audience. This scene is one of several that begin to narrativize everything the audience sees, and the truth in the images is lost. Especially in the latter half of the film, Restrepo becomes focused on the soldiers relationships to the camp, soldiers, and families, and the images are controlled and narrativized in a way that structures what the audience sees. The truth that came from the images' in-comprehensiveness became controlled.

Restrepo has several scenes like the one mentioned above that make the audience question the order of events, how much footage is being shown, and how aware the soldiers are of the camera. The camera form and movements can attempt to capture the truth, which Restrepo does, but the camera cannot present “realistic” content because of the editing, awareness from soldiers, and music that attempts to create a story out of the situation. However, some of the footage in Restrepo can be taken as presenting a truth about the situation in Korengal Valley because it is so close to the action happening there. The images captured in some of the scenes are as close to the truth as an outsider can get because the camera is in the moment, and the soldiers forget or do not see the camera in midst of the action.

However, the big question I had at the end of the film was: How many scenes did the directors have to cut to make it viewable, legal, and distributable?  Contemporary war is structured around information, and how much each side has of it. Restrepo gives an inside look of the situation in Afghanistan, but what information was not captured or distributed?  Restrepo seemingly gives up its attempt to present a reality of the situation, and decides to create a story about the connection these men all have to the event at Restrepo. What about images of people angry with each other, or annoyed by the situation they were in, or reflections on mistakes the made? Some of those things must have occurred over the course of the year, and the story or legality behind Restrepo doesn’t allow for those images to be shown. Contemporary war is like the camera in a way- the information behind all of the action and the choices are hidden, and people of status choose the action the public is able to see in the end.