Perfect Storm author and pub owner Sebastian Junger, and photographer Tim Hetherington, deployed to the Korengal Valley in Afghanistan for Restrepo, an evocative and harrowing documentary about a platoon of US soldiers serving a year in a region known for its ceaseless firefights. Rather than discuss the politics, the film focuses on how the men experience combat, the adrenaline highs and bloodstained lows. Through interviews and soldier’s-eye view footage complete with bullets zooming by, Restrepo takes you inside the hearts and minds of these soldiers, and leaves you wondering, after this horror, if they will be able to return to a somewhat normal life.

Restrepo is a National Geographic release.

(Originally appeared on Flavorpill.com in June 2010.)