Matthew Heineman’s latest documentary, “Retrograde,” opens with a pan from left to right across the mountain ranges of Afghanistan.
Audio clips overlay soundbites from four generations of Presidents discussing the American invasion of the Middle East, from the purposeful threat-neutralizing of the Dubya years to Obama-era fatigue to the wavering defeatism of Trump to Biden’s resolution for withdrawal.
As the situation goes quagmire and the hope in their cascading voiceover fades away, the frame changes along with it, sliding on a gradient from crisply defined peaks backlit by sunrise into the murky limited visibility and ominous unknowability of night.Continue reading ‘Retrograde’ Review: Matthew Heineman’s Afghan War Doc Takes A Blinkered, Sanitized View Of America’s Role [Telluride] at The Playlist.
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