glacierintlphoto
Joined Dec 2014
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glacierintlphoto's rating
I just finished reviewing "The Hornet's Nest," another film by a father and son journalist team, and I explained how I wished it was more like "Restrepo" and "Korengal."
This film was everything I hoped it would be and much, much more. The footage is all original and the film is completely immersed in the environment that the soldiers are in — what their bonds are like with one another — and how they'd all do anything for the men on their left and right — so that they could all make it back home.
As a journalist, I really appreciated how this film focused entirely on the soldiers and the war, letting the soldiers tell the viewer everything, rather than the filmmakers getting on-camera and explaining it to the viewer. That is where my critique of "The Hornet's Nest" was scathing. That film got in the way of itself, cutting back to the journalists constantly so they could get face time with the audience. I'd rather see it done how Restrepo approached this, asking the soldiers the questions and letting them answer — letting them supply the narrative, exclusively.
Excellent film.
This film was everything I hoped it would be and much, much more. The footage is all original and the film is completely immersed in the environment that the soldiers are in — what their bonds are like with one another — and how they'd all do anything for the men on their left and right — so that they could all make it back home.
As a journalist, I really appreciated how this film focused entirely on the soldiers and the war, letting the soldiers tell the viewer everything, rather than the filmmakers getting on-camera and explaining it to the viewer. That is where my critique of "The Hornet's Nest" was scathing. That film got in the way of itself, cutting back to the journalists constantly so they could get face time with the audience. I'd rather see it done how Restrepo approached this, asking the soldiers the questions and letting them answer — letting them supply the narrative, exclusively.
Excellent film.
I just finished reviewing "The Hornet's Nest," another film by a father and son journalist team, and I explained how I wished it was more like "Restrepo" and "Korengal."
This follow-up film to Restrepo with the filmmakers embedding with the same platoon at the same OP was equally as engaging as the original, but focused more on the other parts of war that it didn't touch on in Restrepo. This film visited the more psychological part of warfare: the mind games each and every soldier struggles with, being so bored you'd rather be in a firefight just to pass the time, or going out on patrol looking for death because you don't care anymore whether you live or die etc. It's about each soldier's individual psychological struggles and how each deals with them in their own ways.
As a journalist, I really appreciated how this film focused entirely on the soldiers and the war, letting the soldiers tell the viewer everything, rather than the filmmakers getting on-camera and explaining it to the viewer. That is where my critique of "The Hornet's Nest" was rather scathing. That film got in the way of itself, cutting back to the journalists constantly so they could get face time with the audience. I'd rather see it done how these filmmakers approached this film and Restrepo, asking the soldiers the questions and letting them answer — letting them supply the narrative, exclusively.
This film is a must-see follow-up to Restrepo as they re-embed with the same group of familiar faces for another deployment in the Korengal.
This follow-up film to Restrepo with the filmmakers embedding with the same platoon at the same OP was equally as engaging as the original, but focused more on the other parts of war that it didn't touch on in Restrepo. This film visited the more psychological part of warfare: the mind games each and every soldier struggles with, being so bored you'd rather be in a firefight just to pass the time, or going out on patrol looking for death because you don't care anymore whether you live or die etc. It's about each soldier's individual psychological struggles and how each deals with them in their own ways.
As a journalist, I really appreciated how this film focused entirely on the soldiers and the war, letting the soldiers tell the viewer everything, rather than the filmmakers getting on-camera and explaining it to the viewer. That is where my critique of "The Hornet's Nest" was rather scathing. That film got in the way of itself, cutting back to the journalists constantly so they could get face time with the audience. I'd rather see it done how these filmmakers approached this film and Restrepo, asking the soldiers the questions and letting them answer — letting them supply the narrative, exclusively.
This film is a must-see follow-up to Restrepo as they re-embed with the same group of familiar faces for another deployment in the Korengal.
Compared to Restrepo and Korengal, this film falls well short of my expectations. I had such high hopes for this film and was excited to see it. But by the end, I was more disgusted than anything else. I watched an interview with the journalists and they said their ultimate goal was to ensure that from now on, when a civilian shakes a veteran's hand and thanks them for their service, they will know exactly what they're thanking them for. Well, Restrepo and Korengal did a much better job of that than this film did.
As a journalist myself, it feels too much like the journalist's got in the way of this film and made it as much, if not more, about them and the rekindling of their relationship (father and son), than they did about the soldiers and America's longest war. In that same interview I mentioned earlier, the father and son journalist team said the film was not a documentary but instead a narrative, indicating that documentaries use too much archive footage etc., which is a broad over-generalization in my opinion. Just because a film is labeled a documentary does not mean it isn't 100% original footage.
Restrepo and Korengal, both documentaries, use no archive footage at all, nor do they feature the filmmakers on camera even once during either film. Those other two films focus on the soldiers, their relationships with each other and the war and that's it. And that's where I feel this film falls short. It was a large distraction throughout the film when it kept cutting back to the journalists so they could talk about themselves or in some instances one journalist just filmed the other.
With that being said, the film did win a few journalistic awards for its efforts.
As a journalist myself, it feels too much like the journalist's got in the way of this film and made it as much, if not more, about them and the rekindling of their relationship (father and son), than they did about the soldiers and America's longest war. In that same interview I mentioned earlier, the father and son journalist team said the film was not a documentary but instead a narrative, indicating that documentaries use too much archive footage etc., which is a broad over-generalization in my opinion. Just because a film is labeled a documentary does not mean it isn't 100% original footage.
Restrepo and Korengal, both documentaries, use no archive footage at all, nor do they feature the filmmakers on camera even once during either film. Those other two films focus on the soldiers, their relationships with each other and the war and that's it. And that's where I feel this film falls short. It was a large distraction throughout the film when it kept cutting back to the journalists so they could talk about themselves or in some instances one journalist just filmed the other.
With that being said, the film did win a few journalistic awards for its efforts.