Retrograde (2022 American Film)
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''Retrograde'' is a 2022 American
documentary film A documentary film (often described simply as a documentary) is a nonfiction Film, motion picture intended to "document reality, primarily for instruction, education or maintaining a Recorded history, historical record". The American author and ...
directed by
Matthew Heineman Matthew Heineman (born June 6, 1983) is an American documentary filmmaker, director, and producer. His inspiration and fascination with American history led him to early success with the documentary film ''Cartel Land'', which was nominated for ...
that covers events that took place during the final nine months of America's 20-year war in
Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. It is bordered by Pakistan to the Durand Line, east and south, Iran to the Afghanistan–Iran borde ...
. It had its U.S. premiere at the
Telluride Film Festival The Telluride Film Festival (TFF) is a film festival held annually in Telluride, Colorado, during Labor Day, Labor Day weekend (the first Monday in September). The 51st Telluride Film Festival, 51st edition took place on August 30–September ...
on September 3, 2022, and had its Canadian debut at the
Vancouver International Film Festival The Vancouver International Film Festival (VIFF) is an annual film festival held in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, for two weeks in late September and early October. The festival is operated by the Greater Vancouver International Film Festi ...
on October 2, 2022. It was released in select theaters in the United States starting November 11, 2022, by National Geographic Documentary Films and Picturehouse and was later made available on various
streaming platform An over-the-top media service (also known as over-the-top television, or simply OTT) is a digital distribution service of video and audio delivered directly to viewers via the public Internet, rather than through an over-the-air, cable, satell ...
s. The film received critical acclaim and won an Edward R. Murrow Award, three
News and Documentary Emmy Awards The News & Documentary Emmy Awards, or News & Documentary Emmys, are part of the extensive range of Emmy Awards for artistic and technical merit for the American television industry. Bestowed by the National Academy of Television Arts and Scien ...
(from six nominations), and an award at the documentary film festival
Doc NYC Doc NYC (stylized as DOC NYC) is an annual documentary film festival in New York City. Co-founded by Thom Powers and Raphaela Neihausen, the festival is the country's largest documentary film festival with over 300 films and events and 250 specia ...
. Heinemann was nominated for the Directors Guild of America Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Documentaries at the
75th Directors Guild of America Awards The 75th Directors Guild of America Awards, honoring the outstanding directorial achievement in feature films, documentary, television and commercials of 2022, were presented on February 18, 2023, at the Beverly Hilton in Beverly Hills, Californ ...
, and together with fellow producer Caitlin McNally, he was also nominated for the Producers Guild of America Award for Outstanding Producer of Documentary Theatrical Motion Pictures at the 34th Producers Guild of America Awards. The film has also faced criticism for failing to adequately protect the identities of its subjects leading to the death of a protagonist.


Synopsis

''Retrograde'' is a 2022 American documentary film that covers events that took place during the final nine months of the United States' 20-year war in Afghanistan. The film includes actions taken by the last American Special Forces units stationed there, Sami Sadat, a young Afghan general and his troops defending their country, and a chaotic exodus of its civilians, desperate to flee a country that will once again be controlled by the Taliban.


Release

''Retrograde'' premiered in the United States on September 3, 2022, at the Telluride Film Festival. It had its Canadian premiere at the Vancouver International Film Festival on October 2, 2022. Picturehouse released the film in select US cities on November 11 in
New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...
and
Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...
, and in
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,
San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...
,
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, and
Colorado Springs Colorado Springs is the most populous city in El Paso County, Colorado, United States, and its county seat. The city had a population of 478,961 at the 2020 census, a 15.02% increase since 2010. Colorado Springs is the second-most populous c ...
on November 18. The film began streaming in the US on
National Geographic Channel National Geographic (formerly National Geographic Channel; abbreviated and trademarked as Nat Geo or Nat Geo TV) is an American pay television network and flagship channel owned by the National Geographic Global Networks unit of Disney Enter ...
on December 8, on
Disney+ The Walt Disney Company, commonly referred to as simply Disney, is an American multinational mass media and entertainment industry, entertainment conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios (Burbank), Walt Di ...
on December 9, and on
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on December 11. It was released on Disney+ (Canada) on Friday January 13, 2023.


Reception


Critical response

''Retrograde'' was generally well received. Nicolas Rapold writes in ''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...
'', "The Taliban takeover suggests a reply to the famous 1984 National Geographic cover — as if history is repeating itself with fresh suffering." In posting about the
Green Beret The green beret was the official headdress of the British Commandos, a special-forces unit active during World War II. It is still worn by members of the Royal Marines after passing the Commando Course, and personnel from other units of the Roy ...
working alongside the Afghans, Sheila O'Malley publishes for the film review site
RogerEbert.com ''RogerEbert.com'' is an American film review website that archives reviews written by film critic Roger Ebert for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' and also shares other critics' reviews and essays. The website, underwritten by the ''Chicago Sun-Times ...
, "The intimacy between the men is one of the most striking things about ''Retrograde''." In ''
Variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...
'', Peter Debruge declares that the film "brings back hi-def vérité footage that looks sharper and more artfully framed than most Hollywood features."


Accolades

In addition to the accolades listed below, ''Retrograde'' was one of the 15 films
shortlisted A short list or shortlist is a list of candidates for a job, prize, award, political position, etc., that has been reduced from a longer list of candidates (sometimes via intermediate lists known as "long lists"). The length of short lists varie ...
for the
Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature Film The Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature Film is an award for documentary films. In 1941, the first awards for feature-length documentaries were bestowed as Special Awards to '' Kukan'' and '' Target for Tonight''. They have since been bes ...
, but was ultimately not selected as one of the five final nominees.


Criticism


Death of Afghan Protagonist

The film faced criticism for failing to adequately protect the identities of its subjects. The filmmakers made the decision to show close-ups of them despite warnings prior to Retrograde’s broadcast premiere. These include three active-duty U.S. military personnel and two former Green Berets who said the film will put Afghan protagonists in danger. The film has been called a "hit list" that the Taliban used to identify and punish collaborators with the United States. One of the Afghan protagonists of the film was arrested and tortured by the Taliban and later died from his injuries. The Taliban found him through the Retrograde movie. A number of its subjects are in hiding, and a minesweeper was tortured and killed in 2024. The film's creators have disputed claims that their reporting was unethical. Due to "new attention to this film", National Geographic, which produced the documentary as part of a joint agreement with Disney, announced that it had withdrawn the film, citing "an abundance of caution."


See also

* * *


References


Further reading

*


External links

* *
Official trailer
on
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Retrograde 2020s American films 2022 documentary films 2022 films American documentary films Documentary films about the War in Afghanistan (2001–2021) Documentary films about Afghanistan Films set in Afghanistan Documentary films about war National Geographic Society films Films directed by Matthew Heineman Films scored by H. Scott Salinas