In the Fray

Filmmaker Matthew Heineman ’05 chronicles chaos in Kabul.

It began with a somewhat clichéd thought of trying to understand why human beings fight wars,” says Retrograde creator Heineman. The director, producer, and cinematographer spent years arranging for his film crew to embed with a U.S. special forces unit in Afghanistan. “By the time we were ready to shoot,” he says, “it became clear that we could actually be telling this story about the end of the longest war in U.S. history.” His documentary covers the final nine frantic months of the war there. 

Released by National Geographic in November and produced with Caitlin McNally ’03, the film focuses on Afghan soldiers, led by General Sami Sadat, training with Green Berets at the U.S. base in Helmand Province as their country implodes. “Sadat had a target on his back,” Heineman says. “The Taliban were sending suicide bombers. There was at least one very close call while we were filming with him.” Sadat has since escaped to England.

Heineman begins and ends his movie with tight shots of anguished faces and scenes of desperation at Kabul airport as thousands of civilians braved gunfire and handed away children. “I’ve filmed a lot of sad things in my life,” he says, “but I’d never cried before while filming. I feel a huge responsibility in telling these complex, geopolitical stories, but also to humanize them, to put a human face to them.”

 

 

Portfolio

Plot Boiler
New titles from Dartmouth writers (September/October 2024)
Big Plans
Chris Newell ’96 expands Native program at UConn.
Second Chapter

Barry Corbet ’58 lived two lives—and he lived more fully in both of them than most of us do in one.

Alison Fragale ’97
A behavioral psychologist on power, status, and the workplace

Recent Issues

November-December 2024

November-December 2024

September-October 2024

September-October 2024

July-August 2024

July-August 2024

May-June 2024

May-June 2024

March - April 2024

March - April 2024

January-February 2024

January-February 2024