Wednesday, April 20, 2011

Restrepo Co-Director Dies in Libya...

Tim Hetherington, the co-director of the film Restrepo, a Oscar nominated, director with Sebastian Junger (Junger on left, Hetherington on right in picture here) has been killed in Libya in the last day or so.

Restrepo is/was an excellent first hand account of our soldiers at a firebase in Afghanistan's Korengal valley showing the soldiers there, warts and all.  Its a truly picture that fills an American with pride, laughter, sadness, anger, and frustration--all emotions driven by great works.  If you haven't seen it, Netflix it or stream it or whatever.  It's worth it.

Hetherington (an Oxford educated photojournalist) has a long history of going where others fear to tread including behind rebel held lines in the Liberian Civil War in '03 and Chad/Darfur in '06.  He was killed by an RPG in the Libyan city of Misrata.  With evidently Internet/cell phone access still up in Misrata, his final Tweet was a chilling "In besieged Libyan city of Misrata. indiscriminate shelling by Qaddafi forces. No sign of NATO."

He was knowingly taking big risks to bring back stories and images that no one else was willing to.  He paid for those risks with his life but as a race we should be proud of people who take risks and go beyond the humdrum of everyday life to bring back stories and take actions that the rest of us can or will not.

Tim Hetherington, co-director of 'Restrepo,' killed in Libya...

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