DVD Launch Party for RESTREPO: Soldiers Field Questions With Aplomb

I attended the DVD launch in West Hollywood the other night. Tim,
Sebastian and soldiers Santana Rueda and Dan Monroe were there for a
Q&A. The soldiers did an excellent job fielding questions. The
crowd was mainly film auteurs, and there were several questions with a
potential political bias.

Q: "If you were President and Vice President tomorrow, what would you do about the war?"
A: "I'd give more resources to the soldiers on the ground and improve their situation."

This was an excellent answer, and appropriate as what Restrepo does is avoid the polemics to focus on the story of the platoon. While others have yearned for a film with a political statement, if the filmmakers had done this, it would have been their own point of view, rather than observing the lives of the soldiers.

Tim speaks with Dan at the reception
This is what has given passion to the many film goers who saw it this summer. Finally, the voice of an infantryman. Fans crowded the Facebook page, who wrote about it on blogs, called
their local theaters and asked it be booked in towns large and small.
After the screening, scores of people crowded around Dan and Santana,
wanting to meet the soldiers and thank them for their service. I think
everyone learned a little something that evening.

While the film is on the shortlist for an Oscar nomination for Best Documentary, it
has garnered nominations from The Independent Spirit Awards and The
National Board of Reviews. This is a very exciting time.
Note: This originally appeared on my blog, The Kitchen Dispatch, a Literary Military Spouse Blog.