Restrepo

All is forgiven at the TCFF by the screening of Restrepo, a documentary by Tim Hetherington and Sebastian Junger. The film covers a platoon's 15-month deployment to Nuristan, a province in northeastern Afghanistan. The action is spliced with close-up interviews done in Italy after the tour.

In a welcome retreat from the typical in-your-face documentary polemic, Hetherington and Junger let the deeds and characters speak for themselves. For example, discussing the deployment early in the film, the platoon's caption says that he didn't read anything about the area before going; he didn't want to read anything about the area because he wanted "to keep an open mind."

Go ahead and agree with Captain Empty Head if you think ignorance is good foreign policy. (He might have found intriguing the fact that Nuristan was called Kafiristan as recently as 1896. After the kafirs -- infidels -- were forcibly converted to Islam, the area's name became nur, or "light." On neither naming were the locals consulted. And 1896 might as well be yesterday in Afghan-time.) In fact, you can agree with every bad Big Army decision witnessed in this film if you like, because Junger and Hetherington aren't going to argue with you. Not even when the only unsolicited contact made with the locals is spurned over the value of a cow. C'mon Big Army -- what's $500 for a cow and a little reciprocity? Heck, these guys have spent months training their guns on a collaborator village, shooting at an enemy they never see, we never see, no one ever sees. The only casualties the soldiers ever examine are those of the women and children who get caught in the crossfire. The only men around town are old or dotty.

But, like I said, Restrepo's conclusions are yours to draw. Although, it was McCrystal's conclusion to withdraw troops from Nuristan completely, not long after this platoon left.