With the late Tim Hetherington, who was killed in Libya in 2011, journalist Sebastian Junger made the Oscar-nominated 2010 documentary “Restrepo,” about the hardships of an American outpost in Afghanistan.
Junger is back with a second film assembled from those hours of footage; but in “Korengal,” the focus is on the men and their psyches, their isolation and stress.
The new film mixes mostly nonbattle footage of American troops in Afghanistan — in the Korengal Valley — and long, talking-head interviews, evidently filmed well after the men left. The soldiers are treated with great sympathy, as they show steely resignation and plenty of gallows humor.
There’s a definite sense, however, that they’re holding back a great deal, and the filmmakers’ hero-worship means the soldiers aren’t pressed to tell more. The film is passionate, but not exactly revelatory.