Restrepo

Recent documentary, embedded footage and interviews, from Tim Hetherington and Sebastian Junger
This film is a mixture of shaky handehld stuff, much of it quite heavily edited, and interview footage. Both look quite similar; the interviews are very close to the fact, harsh lit, tight on. The footage from the field is pretty quickly edited, often exposing revealing little moments, and necessarilly fragmented.
The false solution in this situation would be to try to impose a narrative on events, with clear peaks and trough designed to enable the viewer an emotional catharsis. This isn't completely avoided, and it would be difficult to avoid; there is a certain amount of sentimentality. Saying that, the film most of the time achieves a sense of chaos that is surely more appropriate.
There is no voiceover, or self-conscious narration, which mark this out as very much a piece of reportage. Actions are certainly left to speak for themselves, with little editorial comment. This film will always have the difficulty of very much, obviously, showing one side of the conflict. This isn't so much dealt with as in the film as necessarilly by the spectator. The film is able to show scenes of the soldiers in a certainly negative light; in fact, one could ask oneself, even at the conclusion, whether it would be fair to say one 'liked' them.
The opposition becomes a kind of ghost figure, never seen. A more complete picture would obviosuly have spent more time, perhaps one could say shown more interest, in the civilians. But that isn't a criticism; this film is what it is, a verite piece of reportage, rather than analysis, of one particular way of going about things. This means it is not so much illuminating as a document to be studied, for the viewer to reflect upon. And as far as it is that, it is first rate.