Restrepo Director Killed in Libya

[Packer]

Tim Hetherington was killed by very bad people. They were evil. He did not deserve to die.

I don't believe that anybody has said or implied that he deserved to die. We have differing opinions on his and other "journalist's" motives but no one here is wishing this on another person.

 

[HMQ]

the question begs to be asked:

"If the money, fame, notoriety, etc... wasn't part of their going to these places....... WOULD THEY?"

Our military members, red-cross, volunteers, etc... don't go into such dangerous places because the "Pay is good". They do what they do because they have made a commitment to their country. War, unfortunately, has been this director's niche. If somehow Michael Moore could find a way to turn war into "Gun Control", and he could make money, I'm sure he'd be there too.

Tim Hetherington was no Geraldo Rivera, and not motivated by greed or fame - he was a self-effacing guy who decided that his mission in life was to tell important stories that the world needed to know. That's an important job, and we should be grateful that there are journalists with integrity who are willing to walk the walk. Here is the transcript of an interview he gave last November - this was someone who was trying to do right by our soldiers, and deserves our respect:

(Transcript from PBS NewsHour, Nov. 17, 2010)

JEFFREY BROWN: American soldiers serving in Afghanistan, in battle, relaxing together, asleep -- these and many other photographs were taken in the Korengal Valley in Northeastern Afghanistan in 2007 and '8. They're part of a new book titled "Infidel" by Tim Hetherington, a British photojournalist and filmmaker. The video he shot for this project, working with writer Sebastian Junger, became the prize-winning documentary "Restrepo." Welcome to you.

TIM HETHERINGTON, photojournalist/filmmaker: Thanks for having me on.

JEFFREY BROWN: First, set the scene a little bit of how long were you in the valley there; how did it work in terms of daily life and interacting with the soldiers?

TIM HETHERINGTON: We were with Battle Company of the 173rd Airborne in the Korengal Valley in the northeast of Afghanistan, close to the Pakistan border.

And the Korengal was a small six-mile-long valley. And we went there and embedded with a 2nd Platoon of Battle Company on the side of a mountain in a little outpost they built by hand called Restrepo.

And, at that time, we went, and the war was focused on Iraq, but Afghanistan was -- the war was getting out of control, something we now know to be true. And it was a really active place to be.

JEFFREY BROWN: Now, you say in a short afterward in this book that -- quote -- "Rather than attempt to describe the war in Afghanistan, I have sought to convey some of the contradictions of war."

What do you mean by that? What -- what does war mean to you?

TIM HETHERINGTON: Well, war is -- it's a very slippery thing to try and get out any truisms about war.

I mean, Tim O'Brien, the writer, you know, said the same thing. You know, war is hell, but it's more than that. And rather than kind of lay down any kind of definitiveness, I just wanted to -- to show the texture of it. And that meant not just photographing just the combat, but, as you say, the guys, their time off, when war is often very boring. And it's boredom punctuated by sheer terror. And I wanted to capture all of that.

JEFFREY BROWN: All right, we will start with the combat, because that is part of what war is about.

TIM HETHERINGTON: Right.

JEFFREY BROWN: When you're out there with the men, and a battle starts, what are you trying to capture, and how do you do it?

TIM HETHERINGTON: Well, I'm a documentary photographer and filmmaker, and I have been doing this for many, many years. And it wasn't my first time to be in a combat scenario when I was in Afghanistan with these men.

And I'm there as a witness. And I'm just trying to record what I can in the very kind of frenetic -- frenetic environment. And I try and obviously, you know, keep myself out of the way and out of danger, but obviously you're in a situation.

And the men kind of really accepted our presence. We became, to all intents and purposes, part of the platoon, although I never carried a weapon, I never pulled guard duty, although I wish -- I think they wished that I did pull guard duty.

(LAUGHTER)

TIM HETHERINGTON: And they really opened up to us after a while. They realized that we were going to go to the furthest extents that they would go to. We went on every patrol, into every combat situation.

And that made a bond between us and allowed me to document their lives in this very full way.

JEFFREY BROWN: And you're out there with both still and video cameras.

TIM HETHERINGTON: Absolutely.

JEFFREY BROWN: So, you have got to make a decision at different times what you want to do.

TIM HETHERINGTON: Yes, that's true. And there is something special about the still photograph, something that we can creatively engage with.

And, yet, at the same time, in the filming of "Restrepo," I needed to capture all those kind of moments. And it was a bit of a juggle.

JEFFREY BROWN: Now, there is -- there are many down times, right, when, in a sense, nothing is happening.

TIM HETHERINGTON: Right.

JEFFREY BROWN: And you have to capture the nothingness, because, actually, that's part of what is going on, right?

TIM HETHERINGTON: Yes. It was very interesting to start making the photographs of the soldiers sleeping, the classic time of nothing going on. And, yet, in those pictures of those men sleeping, when we think of the imagery of the war, we load that with a kind of significance and meaning that here are these very young men, in the sleep reposes looking very vulnerable, which they are, and yet they are caught up in the maelstrom of war.

And we're sending out these men to very difficult circumstances. And I just wanted to represent their life as fully as possible.

JEFFREY BROWN: Well, I was thinking about that. I mean, you mentioned the word vulnerable, because that's what comes through. Did you think about their vulnerability, because you had gotten to know them, and then looked at somebody asleep and say, kind of, aha, there it is? Or how did those pictures, how did those photographs come about?

TIM HETHERINGTON: Well, we were coming and going over the course of the entire deployment. And I remember making a picture of one of them sleeping.

And then, when I brought it back, I looked at it and realized there was something really, really in that picture. It was a very powerful picture that made me think about war and vulnerability and these young men that we ask to come and serve for our country and what it means. And, so, I continued making the series.

JEFFREY BROWN: And then, of course, there is the camaraderie, the brotherhood, which you and Sebastian Junger, to some extent, became part of, right?

TIM HETHERINGTON: Yes.

JEFFREY BROWN: And you tried to capture that. How much do you -- did you feel a part of that, and how much could you sort of capture it as a participant or as a sort of person standing off to the side with the camera?

TIM HETHERINGTON: Well, it's interesting. When we first arrived, obviously, the men were very suspicious of us. I mean, there is a frosty relationship between the press and the military, which is not necessarily a bad thing. And we were viewed with a healthy dose of suspicion.

After a while, they started to open up to us. And we became, as I said, part of the platoon. I think that they really trusted us to show their world as fully as possible. And that also didn't mean shying away from things. That meant showing both the down time, but also the heat of battle, also the -- documenting when their friends got killed or some of them got killed.

You know, it's a warts-and-all view of the war. And I felt this was important because, you know, often, soldiers and the symbols or representations of soldiers are claimed by the far left or the far right to mean a certain thing. And we do these young men an injustice in not digesting fully their reality. And that's what I wanted to show.
JEFFREY BROWN: You also have, speaking of that, a section at the back where they -- I guess they're short essays or remarks in their own personal words, right?

Why did you do that?

TIM HETHERINGTON: I have always wanted to give a voice to my subjects. That's really important for me. It's their reality, and I'm mediating it for the public. And I understand that.

But I think that it's an opportunity to get them to say what they think, and then give them that chance. And the essays in the back are remarkable. There's so many really interesting and different things I had never heard before, that I just had to get those comments in.

JEFFREY BROWN: All right, the book is called "Infidel." Tim Hetherington, photographer, filmmaker, nice to talk to you.

TIM HETHERINGTON: Thank you very much.

 

[hornetguy]

I decided to watch Restrepo on my Netflix after reading this thread. We lost some good people who can show us some in your face truth. They will be missed.

 

[HMQ]

Some additional thoughts:

- Some who have posted here (and elsewhere) object to the fact that Hetherington's death deserves attention, given that so many fallen soldiers receive little or no public notice. Well, Hetherington is not the first, and will not be the last, journalist killed in the line of reporting - but most of them do not receive any attention; this from the Press Emblem Campaign website, which keeps a running count of journalists "work-related" deaths:

28 journalists killed in 2011 - 110 in 2010 - 122 in 2009 - 91 in 2008 - 115 in 2007 - 96 in 2006 - (534 journalists killed in 5 years from January 2006 to December 2010)

- One reason that Hetherington's death is receiving media attention is that he is more well-known because of the film Restrepo, which he co-directed with Sebastian Junger. Here is Hetherington's explanation of how he and Junger gave the film its title:

We called the film Restrepo – named after the platoon medic who was killed early on in the deployment and the outpost that the men built and named in his honor. But we also felt that the name Restrepo signified the idea of every soldier and the loss that every soldier endures.

- The choice of the fallen medic's name for the film's title clearly signifies the directors' honor and respect for the soldiers. If Hetherington and Junger had been motivated by greed, they could easily have chosen a more "marketable" title. As I said in an earlier post, these journalists were answering the call to a higher purpose.

- I very much appreciate this discussion. I have a son (attending SMC) who is committed to serving (and wants to do Infantry.) My step-son served as an EOD with a Navy Seal team in Desert Storm. I could go on with the list of relatives and close friends who served in the military and saw combat and war first-hand. But I have not - and I can only express my humble gratitude to all of you who have served and will serve, and my deep appreciation of those journalists who help us see the dedication and sacrifice of our brave soldiers.

- Here is a blog posting about Restrepo on the USO website: http://blog.uso.org/2010/07/12/the-story-and-the-soldiers-behind-restrepo/

 

[bruno]

Thanks HMQ
An excerpt from that interview. These were not guys out on glory run- and infact finaced the documentary themselves - selling it later to National Geographic which is not exactly the typical Hollywood big bucks venue. when you see some of the comments you really should be able to appreciate what the value and importance of this project was. "We just wanted to show what the GI experience is like. We felt that the public needs to see, digest, understand and honor this regardless of political beliefs." Clearly from the enthusiatic reception that it received (at least among the Army community I've talked with) they succeeded in that mission- (see CW4 TPG's comments in a previous posting).
RIP Mr Hetherington- the country and its soldiers benefited from your work and we are a little poorer for your loss.

"From 2007-8, author Sebastian Junger and I followed a platoon of soldiers in the remote Korengal Valley. We wanted to make the most immersive and experiential war film we could. We felt that many in the US had no idea how soldiers actually live and fight, and our desire was to bridge that gap – to reconnect people in the country with what soldiers are doing out in places like Afghanistan. We purposely did not interview generals or politicians (the soldiers we were with didn’t) and avoided any voiceover commentary – we just wanted to show what the GI experience is like. We felt that the public needs to see, digest, understand and honor this regardless of political beliefs. We called the film Restrepo – named after the platoon medic who was killed early on in the deployment and the outpost that the men built and named in his honor. But we also felt that the name Restrepo signified the idea of every soldier and the loss that every soldier endures.

Since we have started showing the film across the country, we’ve had incredible responses. I’ve had wives come and tell me how the film has helped them understand what their husband go through and Vietnam veterans who say it spoke of their experience too. It also feels like the country wants to talk about the war in a way that is not divided along the usual partisan lines, and that people want to connect with those who fight on our behalf"