The article Sebastian Junger wrote to eulogize Tim Hetherington relates directly to their time in Afganistan filming Restrepo. They were out in one of the most dangerous places in the world, (at least for an outsider) the Konigal Valley, filming the experience of war. While countless wars have been fought over the centuries, man has now evolved to a state where they can film and show the experiences of war to the rest of the world. There is soe horrible sights in Restrepo, such ast the scenes from Operation Rock Avalanche, and there are some beautiful sights, such as the bonding of men from different backgrounds to become a single unit, a single family. In the article, Junger mentions the fact that Hetherington had the idea that soldiers in war act the way they see soldiers in movies and photos, and propaganda. In a sense this is exactly what the two photojournalists were doing, except more accurately. Now, young men can watch Restrepo and see a more realistic aspect of war. Watching Restrepo changed the way I thought of war. The way Afganistan had been propagandized to me was a desolate wasteland full of crazy terrorists. The landscape turned out to be beautiful. The people in the villages just had different views on life than americans; possibly due to the images they have seen. If I were to ask Junger three questions about the film it would be: 1. Do you think you spent enough time to accurately show the war. 2. Do you think the war can ever be won. 3. Do you think that the Americans are ignorant to the Afganis. Three questions about the War: 1. Was the road really for the people of the valley? 2. Is this a just war? 3. Should Americans be in Afganistan? About his work: 1. Are you afraid of death. 2. Do you think your presence hinders the soldiers work? 3. What is your end goal?
Jake, I really like the questions that you came up with to ask Sebastian Junger. The first one that you had, about whether or not enough time was spent there to accurately understand the war was particularly interesting I think. I think it is really hard to say, whether or not, because it is only one specific place, which is a lot more dangerous than many of the other of the other places during the war at that time. I also think that your question of whether or not the road was for the people of the valley or not is very interesting. The final question that really drew my attention was whether or not their presence hindered the soldiers in doing their job. This would be hard to really say, however I bet that they would have done things differently if they had not had a film crew with them. You raised some very interesting questions, sir, and I enjoyed reading what you had to say about the movie.
ReplyDeleteJake, you know, I had always pictured soldiers in war just like I see them in movies. However, not long ago, I finished a HBO mini series called The Pacific, based on World War 2 that changed this way of thinking coming from me. Curiously, these two films came exactly at the same time for me and made me change my whole perspective on this topic. War isn't like we see it in movies. Movies have heroes that jump of their trenches or HQs and run through no man's land and they, for some reason, never get shot. In real life, getting shot is nearly a ceretainty if there is some heroic sense in the field. War is not a joke, war is a serious situation and there should be some sense in those who declare it, specially for stupid, unknown reasons like that one in Afghanistan
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