Reality Sucks

My husband is watching Restrepo as I write; I half watch. The opening aerial shots of the mountainous region are gorgeous. Could be lots of places in the world, but it’s not. It’s the very specific Korengal Valley of Afghanistan near the Pakistan border. And the American soldiers are getting shot at every day from ALL directions. They call it the Valley of Death for good reason.

I’m not a fan of war movies, yet I feel obliged to tune in to this one. Any problems I thought I had pale in comparison to what these soldiers face. The documentary is humbling and sobering. As filmmakers Tim Hetherington and Sebastian Junger say, “[The soldiers’] experiences are important to understand, regardless of one’s political beliefs. Beliefs are a way to avoid looking at reality. This is reality.”

[Pic by Matthew Moeller.]