Tag: Retrograde

“Retrograde” is about many things, but it’s really about the faces. The cameras linger on the faces, allowing the expressions of suffering, tension, nerves, desperation, to take root or take wing. There is a lot of story here, story the world knows very well. “Retrograde” details the withdrawal of American forces from Afghanistan in 2021, after a nearly 20-year-long war and/or occupation. “Retrograde” is a deeply mournful film, and the focus on humans is why. Empires march through history and individual humans pay the price. The people of Afghanistan have paid the price over and over again.  The film was shot over the months following the U.S. withdrawal. Heineman and his crew is deeply embedded in the situation, with close access to every private meeting, conversation, traveling ...