Tim Hetherington is a New York City-based photographer and filmmaker, who has spent 10 years reporting on conflict, most notably in Liberia and Afghanistan. His new feature-length film, “Restrepo,” was made after 15 months of living with a platoon of U.S. Army soldiers in Afghanistan’s deadly Korengal Valley in 2007-2008. Hetherington and his Vanity Fair colleague, Sebastian Junger, captured scores of close and personal footage in the life of a soldier. The result is a sensitive, insightful, provoking, and controversial film, which took top documentary honors at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival.
In a recent interview with Tim Hetherington, he talked about why he does what he does, the making of “Restrepo,” and answered questions like, “Just how crazy are you?”
Hetherington likes to start out conversations by asking questions. Something in his character makes him naturally curious about other people, even when he’s being interviewed. Maybe that’s why when a standard Vanity Fair assignment, alongside colleague Sebastian Junger, to Afghanistan turned into a 15-month journey. He was able to become deeply familiar with the soldiers he filmed and photographed. But it didn’t start that way.
“I thought it would be a quiet assignment,” says Hetherington about his perspective at the outset. “I thought we would have a quiet time walking in the mountains and meeting with village elders and drinking tea.”
But he and Junger ended up going back to an outpost named Restrepo in an area of Afghanistan called the Korengal Valley, where he says there was “a lot of kinetic activity.” What made the story come alive were the soldiers they shadowed.
“The best stories … are a microcosm of the bigger story,” says Hetherington, adding that during his time in Afghanistan, one-fifth of all fighting in the country was taking place in the Korengal Valley.
“Once we had this amazing story in this microcosm space, I didn’t need to travel to any other place in Afghanistan,” he said. “And I was with this group of soldiers right at the tip of the spear.”
Initially, the hardest part of the job for Hetherington was gaining the trust of the soldiers and overcoming the skepticism he says journalists in the military community usually face.
“Soldiers keep to themselves—it’s kind of yes sir, no sir—it’s very simple answers,” says Hetherington, adding that his first photographs were just soldiers in uniforms, but by the end he was photographing the same men at their most vulnerable, sleeping.
“What happened was a kind of profound intimacy between us, that very intimate side of war that you don’t often see.”
In a recent interview with Tim Hetherington, he talked about why he does what he does, the making of “Restrepo,” and answered questions like, “Just how crazy are you?”
Motivation and Endurance
Hetherington likes to start out conversations by asking questions. Something in his character makes him naturally curious about other people, even when he’s being interviewed. Maybe that’s why when a standard Vanity Fair assignment, alongside colleague Sebastian Junger, to Afghanistan turned into a 15-month journey. He was able to become deeply familiar with the soldiers he filmed and photographed. But it didn’t start that way.
“I thought it would be a quiet assignment,” says Hetherington about his perspective at the outset. “I thought we would have a quiet time walking in the mountains and meeting with village elders and drinking tea.”
But he and Junger ended up going back to an outpost named Restrepo in an area of Afghanistan called the Korengal Valley, where he says there was “a lot of kinetic activity.” What made the story come alive were the soldiers they shadowed.
“The best stories … are a microcosm of the bigger story,” says Hetherington, adding that during his time in Afghanistan, one-fifth of all fighting in the country was taking place in the Korengal Valley.
“Once we had this amazing story in this microcosm space, I didn’t need to travel to any other place in Afghanistan,” he said. “And I was with this group of soldiers right at the tip of the spear.”
Getting Close
Initially, the hardest part of the job for Hetherington was gaining the trust of the soldiers and overcoming the skepticism he says journalists in the military community usually face.
“Soldiers keep to themselves—it’s kind of yes sir, no sir—it’s very simple answers,” says Hetherington, adding that his first photographs were just soldiers in uniforms, but by the end he was photographing the same men at their most vulnerable, sleeping.
“What happened was a kind of profound intimacy between us, that very intimate side of war that you don’t often see.”
Hetherington thinks he and Junger managed to convey this very intimacy in “Restrepo,” taking something typically political and making it personal for the audience.
“War is intimate,” he says. “The things that war brings out in a person are very intimate emotions—love, killing, friendship. War is often represented as a political game. We usually are presented it in a political context and it is illustrated by manufactured emotions.”
Dancing with Death
Hetherington was never hit by a bullet during his time in Afghanistan but did face most of the same daily dangers as the soldiers. Although death or serious injury was a daily part of life, Hetherington says he felt protected at Restrepo, the outpost where he stayed.
Only once did he suffer a serious injury while out on patrol with the soldiers in the middle of the night.
“I fell and broke my fibula,” recalls Hetherington. “The whole line of guys was waiting for me. I did not want to hold them up. We were on a side of a mountain with very little cover—it’s the middle of the night—if we’re on the mountainside [in the morning] we would be very exposed.”
After walking all night with the injury, he got an operation in Bagram, had a metal plate put in, and went back to the U.S. to recover. But he couldn’t stop thinking about going back.
“I was like, ‘I just need to go back soon,’ he says, adding that he returned before fully recovering, dodging doctors at Bagram who wanted to hold him back.
“It’s funny, you just want to get back into it,” says Hetherington of getting injured. “Once you got to the Korengal, you were with the guys. I felt like part of the group. We were part of the fixture of Battle Company in the Korengal.”
But Hetherington says his experience wasn’t unique to him.
“This guy [in the platoon], Kevin Rice, got shot in the stomach. He came back three months later with the scars—and his wounds hadn’t healed properly, but he just wanted to be with his men.”
Hetherington was even undaunted when he had to literally jump through bullets to get his video camera when a firefight started unexpectedly.
“I’m there to report, I’m there to film, and if I’m not, I am really wasting my time,” he says about jumping in the line of fire. “Having a job to do in a combat zone helps focus your mind [and] I just had to get the camera.”
Politics and a Game of Chess
Since Hetherington’s time at Restrepo, the U.S. government has pulled out of the area. He thinks the men who defended the outpost understand the war is about changing strategy, but seeing insurgents take over Restrepo was probably difficult for them.
“I always felt the Korengal was like the squares of a chessboard,” says Hetherington, adding that despite the area’s strategic importance at one time, war is a fluid, changing thing. “Ultimately when you leave those squares, they’re just black and white squares. The Korengal just happened to be those squares, and it gained a kind of iconic image because of that.”
With the war in Afghanistan recently gaining the dubious distinction of being America’s longest, Hetherington thinks that now is the time for a film like “Restrepo” to spark a social conversation.
“I think the strategy of the film is a visceral experience of war that leads us into a greater experience of what’s happening in Afghanistan by using the soldier’s experience,” he says, emphasizing that even though “Restrepo” is an apolitical film, it could easily spark a political debate.
“I always felt the Korengal was like the squares of a chessboard,” says Hetherington, adding that despite the area’s strategic importance at one time, war is a fluid, changing thing. “Ultimately when you leave those squares, they’re just black and white squares. The Korengal just happened to be those squares, and it gained a kind of iconic image because of that.”
With the war in Afghanistan recently gaining the dubious distinction of being America’s longest, Hetherington thinks that now is the time for a film like “Restrepo” to spark a social conversation.
“I think the strategy of the film is a visceral experience of war that leads us into a greater experience of what’s happening in Afghanistan by using the soldier’s experience,” he says, emphasizing that even though “Restrepo” is an apolitical film, it could easily spark a political debate.
“The whole point is to have a kind of politically engaged conversation about Afghanistan. I think the film is a doorway to do that. I think making an overtly political film will just turn people off.”
He adds that if there are any serious critics, it’s coming from the far left, where the equation is if you are anti-war, you have to be anti-soldier. Hetherington thinks that when that type of critic sees “Restrepo,” they might feel uncomfortable about having sympathy for the soldiers. It is these people who he thinks should revisit their perspective, and he hopes “Restrepo” will help them do that.
“Most people would agree that war is not a good idea, and killing is not a good idea. The fact that motivates me is that we have a common humanity. The strategy I use is to evoke sympathy and get [people] to reexamine through their keyhole what’s going on. I don’t think the film is part of the solution about the war. I’m questioning it. I’m critiquing it.”
In hindsight, Hetherington says for the most part, he wouldn’t change anything in the making of “Restrepo.”
“[Everything] has been a distillation of young men in war,” he says.
As for whether or not he’s crazy for going so far out on a limb in his work, Hetherington laughs, but acknowledges he’s questioned whether some of the risks were worth it.
“I seek to get emotionally engaged. After a point I just go so far that I just think, ‘what am I doing, am I taking crazy risks?’ Sometimes you just emotionally wreck yourself.”
In the process, though, he says that “taking the brakes off” becomes necessary for him to find the real story.
“I think that process of emotionally giving yourself up to that story brings the audience in,” says Hetherington. “Somehow that transfers to the work. Taking the breaks off lets you take the audience further into the story.”
Whether or not the movie can clarify the war in Afghanistan for people, Hetherington hopes that it will at least get people focused, thinking, and discussing the situation.
“We need to have a real discussion that’s not cut by party politics, because war can be extremely partisan,” he says. “Sons that are being sent out there are dying and being wounded, [so] I hope the film focuses the mind.”
“Restrepo” is currently playing in New York and Los Angeles and will be released more widely in select cities in July.
He adds that if there are any serious critics, it’s coming from the far left, where the equation is if you are anti-war, you have to be anti-soldier. Hetherington thinks that when that type of critic sees “Restrepo,” they might feel uncomfortable about having sympathy for the soldiers. It is these people who he thinks should revisit their perspective, and he hopes “Restrepo” will help them do that.
“Most people would agree that war is not a good idea, and killing is not a good idea. The fact that motivates me is that we have a common humanity. The strategy I use is to evoke sympathy and get [people] to reexamine through their keyhole what’s going on. I don’t think the film is part of the solution about the war. I’m questioning it. I’m critiquing it.”
In hindsight, Hetherington says for the most part, he wouldn’t change anything in the making of “Restrepo.”
“[Everything] has been a distillation of young men in war,” he says.
As for whether or not he’s crazy for going so far out on a limb in his work, Hetherington laughs, but acknowledges he’s questioned whether some of the risks were worth it.
“I seek to get emotionally engaged. After a point I just go so far that I just think, ‘what am I doing, am I taking crazy risks?’ Sometimes you just emotionally wreck yourself.”
In the process, though, he says that “taking the brakes off” becomes necessary for him to find the real story.
“I think that process of emotionally giving yourself up to that story brings the audience in,” says Hetherington. “Somehow that transfers to the work. Taking the breaks off lets you take the audience further into the story.”
Whether or not the movie can clarify the war in Afghanistan for people, Hetherington hopes that it will at least get people focused, thinking, and discussing the situation.
“We need to have a real discussion that’s not cut by party politics, because war can be extremely partisan,” he says. “Sons that are being sent out there are dying and being wounded, [so] I hope the film focuses the mind.”
“Restrepo” is currently playing in New York and Los Angeles and will be released more widely in select cities in July.
