Objectivity of Restrepo

Restrepo is a great documentary which presents itself as objectively as possible. I think the form and style of the documentary allows for as objective of a representation as being embedded with an American platoon allows. It is obvious that due to the nature of the documentarians living with the American soldiers there are some limitations to how objective they can truly be, but I think that through the use of interviews and contextual communication with the Afghani people, Hetherington and Junger try to present the other side of the conflict as much as possible. Scenes where soldiers are shown talking with the locals through translators, the audience is able to get a feel for how the locals feel regarding the installment of foreign troops in their valley.

I think the idea of truth behind this film is that the camera does not lie. They are showing everything that happens; the good, the bad, and the ugly. Scenes where local children and women are killed by airstrikes, soldiers mourning the dead, soldiers burning their own feces, meetings with the local elders, soldiers dancing around listening to bad techno music. Hetherington and Junger attempt to show the audience what it was truly like for these soldiers on a day to day basis while living in the deadliest combat zone in Afghanistan. In terms of films that are deceptive, I think one of the best examples of that would be Reefer Madness, which tries to depict the horrors of smoking marijuana, by saying your son will go crazy and your daughter will fall in love with a black person. It truly has become a comedy film at this point, but back in the thirties people were really afraid of marijuana and its potential unknown side effects.

The camera has the ability to tell the truth without doing anything more than just aiming it at something. That is what i think is so great about Restrepo and Korengal, alot of the film is just that; Hetherington aiming the camera at something happening. On the other hand, in a more cinematic sense, the camera has the ability to deceive and make people see or feel something that isn't necessarily true. It can present the audience with a spectacle, something to be in awe of, but not something that is necessarily truthful to real life.