Chicagoland

Documentary shows humanity in war

By Sr. Helena Burns, FSP | Contributor
Sunday, July 18, 2010

Restrepo” is the name of new documentary and the surname of a medic with the U.S. Army’s Second Platoon in the Korengal Valley, Afghanistan, near the Pakistan border. Although we barely meet him, he becomes the centerpiece of the platoon’s 15-month deployment and of the documentary.

The writer, Sebastian Junger (“A Perfect Storm,” and “War”), was embedded with the troops to capture the lives, missions and firefights from inside the bunkers, as well as the heads and hearts of the handful of men securing this crucial pass used by the Taliban.

They take fire every day. And give it back. It’s a crucible of offensive and defensive strategizing with excursions to the local mountainside homes to try to discover who’s on what side and find out who will talk.

We have seen this hand-held trench warfare footage in other films, or simply in news coverage. The bonding, camaraderie, nostalgia for home, patrols, monotony, lighter moments and even the casualties are fairly standard, except that this is a fresh group of mostly young soldiers in a 21st-century conflict.

The filming never gets too graphic and the horror of war never really leaps off the screen; it’s more the ordinary routine interspersed with feverish excitement and fear that comes through. The filmmakers seem to be pushing hard to zoom in on every little expression of emotion from the guys in the field, and during the interviews, the camera is fawning and trying to squeeze tears out of them during long pauses that are meant to squeeze tears out of us, also.

No matter how long our present wars run, we need to go back and keep asking the original questions: What are we doing? Why? Do we even have a “right” to be there? Is it in accord with international law or treaties that we be there and do what we’re doing? Is it moral? Is it just?

The men seem eager to experience all there is to be experienced during this, their difficult tour of duty. One of them comments that there is no greater high than getting shot at and surviving. He has no idea how we will return to civilian life after that. But there’s also a sense of, “This? This is it? This is what life is about? This is all that life has to offer? This is what being a man is all about?”

I’ve heard soldiers tell other soldiers (often father-soldiers their soldier-sons): “Preserve your humanity.” The men of the Second Platoon did just that in their remembrance of their fallen friend.

The U.S. bishops have not reviewed this film. Burns ministers in Chicago.

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