Restrepo Essay

Imagine you are under the constant threat of being killed in a foreign terrain, and the only way you will survive is if you kill the man who is trying to kill you. Every time you sleep, you are woken up to gun shots. You are desperately seeking a safe place to set up camp, while men on the other side of a mountain are savagely trying to kill you. These are the difficult conditions the American soldiers have to live and fight in during their deployment to the Korengal Valley, in Afghanistan. Restrepo is a 2010 documentary film directed by Junger and Hetherington. It documents the relevant struggles soldiers face when dealing with the constant pressure of wartime fighting. Restrepo tells the story of the confusion and terror brought upon the soldiers stationed at

Most of the soldiers fighting at Korengal Valley must be diagnosed with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) due to the constant threat of death and witnessing the deaths of the soldiers next to them. One soldier, Miguel Cortez, remembers his situation as knowing he was going to die. During the interview Cortez would slightly shake while telling his story and remembering how he felt. Cortez admitted that he does not sleep because of his nightmares and he has tried 4 or 5 different sleeping medications. Another soldier, Misha Pemble-Belkin, rarely made eye contact in his interview. He would stare next to the camera instead, while telling his story. Pemble-Belkin tells how he refused to let his family know the truth of what was happening to his Platoon and would often call them, but leave out the details of someone’s death or injury. This documentary shows the psychological effects on these soldiers, that the audience can see through their ticks and how they conduct themselves throughout the