The sad news came in late last night that photographer and filmmaker Tim Hetherington died while covering the civil war in Libya.
Hetherington was one of the two directors of the astonishing documentary “Restrepo,” filmed at a makeshift Army base in the hills of Afghanistan.
The combat photographer and three colleagues were killed in Misurata, apparently by a rocket grenade fired by troops fighting for the Qaddafi regime.
Here is an earlier mini-review of “Restrepo,” nominated for the Oscars’ best documentary film and deserving the win. Hope it’ll persuade a few more people to see Hetherington’s film, which makes quite clear the deadly nature of wartime filmmaking:
“Restrepo” would have made a terrific war drama, except for the part where it’s all real. This look at a platoon of young Army soldiers fighting in Afghanistan is shortlisted for the Oscars’ wacky documentary category, but should be up for best picture. Filmmakers Sebastian Junger and Tim Hetherington lived with the troops in 2007-08, photographing everything at grunt level. “Restrepo” refers to a soldier we get to know briefly, before his violent death. The platoon names a ramshackle base after him, a miserable perch from which they try to fight the Taliban and win over locals. Later, the boys struggle to make sense of their chaotic mission. Funny, heartbreaking, essential. The DVD offers more interviews and deleted scenes.
The DVD distributor is National Geographic.
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