''Retrograde'' is a 2022 American

documentary film A documentary film or documentary is a non-fictional film, motion-picture intended to "document reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction, education or maintaining a Recorded history, historical record". Bill Nichols (film critic), Bil ...

directed by

Matthew Heineman Matthew Heineman is an American filmmaker. The Sundance Film Festival called Heineman "one of the most talented and exciting documentary filmmakers working today", while Anne Thompson of ''Indiewire'' wrote that Heineman is a "respected and gif ...

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,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...

. 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 weekend (the first Monday in September). The 49th edition took place on September 2 -6, 2022. History First held on 30 August 1974, th ...

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 Fest ...

on October 2, 2022. It was released in select theaters in the United States by National Geographic Documentary Films and was later made available on various

streaming platform An over-the-top media service is a streaming media service offered directly to viewers via the Internet. OTT bypasses cable, broadcast, and satellite television platforms, the companies that traditionally act as a controller or distributors of ...

s. The film received critical acclaim, was nominated for the Directors Guild of America Award for Outstanding Directing in the Documentary Category at the

Producers Guild of America Awards The Producers Guild of America Awards were originally established in 1990 by the Producers Guild of America as the Golden Laurel Awards, created by PGA Treasurer Joel Freeman with the support of Guild President Leonard B. Stern, Leonard Stern, i ...

, and won the Doc NYC award at the annual documentary film festival.

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 or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

and

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

, and in

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San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

San Diego San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the List of United States cities by population, eigh ...

, and

Colorado Springs Colorado Springs is a home rule municipality in, and the county seat of, El Paso County, Colorado, United States. It is the largest city in El Paso County, with a population of 478,961 at the 2020 United States Census, a 15.02% increase since ...

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 television network, network and flagship (broadcasting), flagship channel owned by the National Geograp ...

on December 8, on

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on December 9, and on

Hulu Hulu () is an American subscription streaming service majority-owned by The Walt Disney Company, with Comcast's NBCUniversal holding a minority stake. It was launched on October 29, 2007 and it offers a library of films and television serie ...

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'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'', "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 of the Second World War. It is still worn by members of the Royal Marines after passing the Commando Course, and personnel from other units of the Royal Navy, Army and RAF wh ...

working alongside the Afghans, Sheila O'Malley publishes for the film review site RogerEbert.com, "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 besto ...

, but was ultimately not selected as one of the five final nominees.

References

External links

* *
Official trailer
on

YouTube YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Retrograde 2020s American films 2022 documentary films American documentary films Documentary films about the War in Afghanistan (2001–2021) Documentary films about war National Geographic Society films Films directed by Matthew Heineman