Korengal: This Is What War Feels Like
color. 84+ min. , Battle Films in assoc. with Goldcrest Films & Outpost Films, dist. by Virgil Films, www.virgilfilmsent.com. 2014. DVD UPC 829567106426. $19.99. Closed-captioned. MILITARY STUDIES
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Junger's (
The Last Patrol) documentary is a follow-up to his acclaimed 2010 film,
Restrepo. Korengal includes the same troops from the earlier production who here discuss warfare with an honesty, directness, and simplicity that add to the film's open-eyed tone. The Korengal Valley is a harsh section of Afghanistan, and the men who inhabit this remote outpost for long stretches of time are isolated and under constant attack. As the men talk in postdeployment interviews about subjects such as bravery, personal fears, favorite machine guns, and the sweet rush of adrenaline during firefights, Junger cuts to footage of these warriors on the ridge, blissfully firing weapons, traversing precarious trails, communicating with local villagers who might want to kill them, or staving off boredom between gun battles.
VERDICT While not as revelatory, raw, or intense as its predecessor, Korengal is still an intriguing, apolitical meditation on modern warfare as told by actual troops, with boots on the ground and in a location unlike any other.
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