Restrepo and The Battle of Algiers

[John T. Fishel]

I had to look up Restrepo to have any idea of what you were talking about.

As far as Battle of Algiers is concerned, don't make the mistake that any of the film makers sought neutrality. Saadi Yacef - who wrote the orignial story & starred in it - was playing himself almost without amplification. Gillo Pontecorvo, the Director, was a committed Italian communist and anti-colonialist. The film is very, very pro Algerian independence and anti-French colonialism. It is, however, honest in its portrayal of the players and treats each of the human beings involved with sympathy.

Cheers

JohnT

[jmm99]

except I would have had to look up the names, etc., for the Battle of Algiers.

For a communist (small "c") film, it has much less agitprop than one would have expected - and, of course, the Algerian insurgency was not Marxist in ideology (though it used many of the then common tactics used by Marxist insurgentsl), many French officers to the contrary.

See, Mike, great minds run in the same channels - and are sometimes joined by rugby players from That Place on the Hudson.

Cheers

Mike

[tequila]

Liked it quite a bit, but was also somewhat underwhelmed compared to the overall rapturous reviews:

http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/restrepo/

Another excellent film which I actually liked more and which felt more visceral was an A&E film called Combat Diary: Marines of Lima Company about Lima 3/25 in Iraq in 2005. Most of the footage in that was actually shot by the Marines themselves rather than an embedded journalist.

[MikeF]

See, Mike, great minds run in the same channels - and are sometimes joined by rugby players from That Place on the Hudson.

The key is sometimes. What's that saying? A broke clock is right twice a day .

John T Fishel is right on that Battle for Algiers is not neutral. Restrepo is supposed to be, but what is left out takes so much away from the story. The biggest thing is that they talk about how important OP Restrepo is, yet, they never explained why it is important and to what value. That's just a disservice in my book.

I watched the movie with my old JTAC (Joint Tactical Air Controller) who had also served in the Korengal in 2005 with the Marines so he was able to fill me in on some of the rest of the story.

[CloseDanger]

I thought his take was interesting: http://freerangeinternational.com/blog/?p=3356

[jmm99]

I picked up a DVD player (re-manufactured 2008 combo VCR & DVD - so I can copy old tapes to discs). I'm slow (a year tardy) but sure.

BLUF: I picked up Restrepo & have watched it more than once. The theme that I saw running through it (common to WWII, Korea and Vietnam - from the folks I've known well) are the deaths of the people to the right and left of the infantrymen who were there. I don't know if my dad would have liked it; but he would have understood it - far better than I.

Regards

Mike

[ganulv]

BLUF: I picked up Restrepo & have watched it more than once. The theme that I saw running through it (common to WWII, Korea and Vietnam - from the folks I've known well) are the deaths of the people to the right and left of the infantrymen who were there. I don't know if my dad would have liked it; but he would have understood it - far better than I.

I liked that it really was a movie rather than cut-and-pasted pieces of footage. Heart of Darkness is impossible to miss in the early sequence with the footage shot from the helicopters, and the image quality overall is excellent.

I have to say that I slept very poorly the night after my initial viewing of the film. I just had thought things were going better than that for the US effort in Afghanistan. I know that it was a selectively edited view of one small part of things, but still. One scene that seemed particularly telling was the increasing frustration on the young officer’s face as the older fellow keeps haranguing him and he can’t manage to produce the first non-English word to try and calm the situation.

[jmm99]

I didn't see Conrad in the opening heliochopter sequence - so I'm living proof that it's not impossible to miss that Congo classic as a model.[*]

No doubt that the Korengal was Astan's "heart of darkness" then (now ?) - a hard-headed Pashtun mountaineer area; where lowlanders and outsiders have a tough time fitting in. Cf., Dayuhan's present environs.

Anyway, after one run through the film, I saw I was not going to add anything to a "DIME" review of it. And, in any event (as with most films), I got caught up in the characters - primarily the young men of the 2nd Plt. (the residents of OP Restrepo).

What came across to me was the impact that the deaths (e.g., Vimoto, Restrepo, Rougle) had on them. Which made me think of one WWII survivor I knew well (my dad) and two Vietnam survivors and close friends (both now dead) - and the impact that combat deaths had on all of them.

Of course, all is not morbid - e.g., the scene where Elliott tells of his 80-year old grandpa and the Bikini Car Wash (one of the outtakes). I can attest; the spirit is willing even if the flesh has become weak.

--------------------------
[*] Heart of Darkness was assigned in an honors class in 1962; but I re-read the thing together with Peter Forbath's The River Congo and Mike Hoare's Mercenary within the last 12 months.

Regards

Mike