Tune into the Oscars at 7 p.m. EST on Sunday, February 27th to support Academy Award-nominated Restrepo for Best Documentary!
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IAVA is proud to partner with National Geographic and the Oscar©-nominated documentary Restrepo [1]. The film chronicles the deployment of a platoon of U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan's Korengal Valley and focuses on a remote 15-man outpost called Restrepo, named after a platoon medic who was killed in action.
Restrepo was considered one of the most dangerous postings in the U.S. military. Filmmakers Tim Hetherington [2] and Sebastian Junger [3] dug in with the men of Second Platoon, making a total of ten trips to the Korengal between June 2007 and July 2008. There was no running water at Restrepo, no internet, no phone communication, and for a while, there was no electricity or heat; it was essentially just sandbags and ammo. Some days the outpost was attacked three or four times from distances as close as fifty yards.
The filmmakers did everything the soldiers did except pull guard duty and shoot back during firefights. They slept alongside the soldiers, ate with them, survived the boredom and the heat and the cold and the flies with them, went on patrol with them, and eventually came to be considered virtually part of the platoon. This is an entirely experiential film: there are no interviews with generals or diplomats. This is the story, in the soldiers' own words, of a group of men who came to be considered the "tip of the spear."
In the summer of 2010, IAVA worked with National Geographic to bring Restrepo to our members across the country through a special screening tour that hit military bases and cities with large veteran populations. IAVA staff members joined the filmmakers at Q&A panels after the film to answer questions from fellow veterans, civilians and the media.
"The next time somebody asks me what combat is like I'm going to tell them to go see Restrepo," said IAVA Deputy Executive Director Todd Bowers at a screening in DC. "This is a film that gets it. IAVA is proud to partner on a film that does so much to bridge the civilian-military divide by exposing so many people to the realities of our veterans."
IAVA's award-winning public service announcement also aired during National Geographic Channel' [4]s telecasts of the film and provided a strong call to action for both veterans looking to share their experiences and civilians who wanted to learn more about what our troops face when they are deployed.
Hear from Sal Giunta in his own words.
Staff Sergeant Salvatore Giunta was awarded the Medal of Honor for his heroism in the Korengal Valley during the deployment chronicled in Restrepo. Read his official Medal of Honor citation here. [5]
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Watch IAVA Executive Director Paul Rieckhoff's interview with author and filmmaker Sebastian Junger on C-SPAN2's After Words. Click here to watch. [6]
Log on to Community of Veterans [7]and tell us what you thought of Restrepo.
Order a copy of Restrepo on Blu-Ray [8] or DVD [9]. Two dollars of every copy purchased through Virgil Films will go directly to IAVA.
Post a message on Twitter or Facebook to spread the word about Restrepo to your friends and family.
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Links:
[1] http://restrepothemovie.com/
[2] http://www.timhetherington.com/
[3] http://www.sebastianjunger.com/
[4] http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/episode/restrepo-afghan-outpost-4808
[5] http://usarmy.vo.llnwd.net/e1/medalofhonor/giunta/citation.html
[6] http://www.booktv.org/Watch/11604/After+Words+Sebastian+Junger+War+interviewed+by+Paul+Rieckhoff.aspx
[7] http://iava.communityofveterans.org/forum/topics/watch-restrepo-on-22-and-share?commentId=2370995:Comment:240911
[8] http://www.virgilfilmsent.com/store/product.php?pid=412
[9] http://www.virgilfilmsent.com/store/product.php?pid=411
[10] http://twitter.com/home?status=Check%20out%20@RestrepoMovie%20on%20@NatGeoChannel%20on%202/2%20at%208pm%20EST:%20http://iava.org/restrepo%20Pls%20RT!
[11] http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=http://iava.org/restrepo