X
  • 2022
  • R
  • Hulu
  • 1 h 34 m
  • 2022
  • R
  • Hulu
  • 1 h 34 m

Summary Matthew Heineman’s documentary captures the final nine months of America’s 20-year war in Afghanistan from multiple perspectives: one of the last U.S. special operations forces units deployed there, a young Afghan general and his corps fighting to defend their homeland against all odds, and the civilians desperately attempting to flee as...

  • 2022
  • R
  • Hulu
  • 1 h 34 m
  • 2022
  • R
  • Hulu
  • 1 h 34 m

Retrograde

Metascore Generally Favorable Based on 12 Critic Reviews
76
User Score Available after 4 ratings
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Summary Matthew Heineman’s documentary captures the final nine months of America’s 20-year war in Afghanistan from multiple perspectives: one of the last U.S. special operations forces units deployed there, a young Afghan general and his corps fighting to defend their homeland against all odds, and the civilians desperately attempting to flee as...

Where to Watch

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
Generally Favorable Based on 12 Critic Reviews
76
92% Positive
11 Reviews
8% Mixed
1 Review
0% Negative
0 Reviews

  • All Reviews
  • Positive Reviews
  • Mixed Reviews
  • Negative Reviews

Critic Reviews

 View All
Metascore
Generally Favorable Based on 12 Critic Reviews
76
92% Positive
11 Reviews
8% Mixed
1 Review
0% Negative
0 Reviews

  • All Reviews
  • Positive Reviews
  • Mixed Reviews
  • Negative Reviews
95
Nov 10, 2022
It’s the faces that stand out in Retrograde, a stylistic and thematic motif that offers an empathetic power to the film as well as an aching poignancy.
By Katie Walsh FULL REVIEW
83
Dec 1, 2022
Retrograde is a powerful reminder that conflict breeds conflict and enacting a plan trying to protect a certain group of people will always leave others neglected.
By Jordan Raup FULL REVIEW
80
Nov 10, 2022
There’s not a dull shot in the entire movie, which is remarkable, considering how little actual action Heineman films.
By Peter Debruge FULL REVIEW
75
Dec 8, 2022
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, and desperation, to take root.
By Sheila O'Malley FULL REVIEW
75
Nov 10, 2022
To watch terror become desperation become despair is wrenching, more so because this puts names and faces to events the rest of us are fortunate enough to read about while sitting on our couches.
By Emma Stefansky FULL REVIEW
70
Nov 18, 2022
Heineman’s trust in what his camera reveals — in the forlorn faces of U.S. soldiers, in the slump of Sadat’s demeanor, in the distraught eyes of a mother caught in that Kabul airport scrum of the desperate — tells its own necessary story of war wreckage.
By Robert Abele FULL REVIEW
50
Nov 10, 2022
Heineman’s thesis that because leaving has gone so poorly, staying would’ve necessarily been better is incorrect at best, and disingenuous at worst. He wants to think structurally, aware that America can and does flatten other nations beneath our clumsy footfalls. He just can’t — or won’t — see the whole structure out of apparent fear that it’ll be too unflattering for all involved, including him, the army’s useful launderer of their image-sanitizing talking points.
By Charles Bramesco FULL REVIEW

User Reviews

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Details

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Production Company National Geographic Documentary Films, Our Time Projects
Release Date Nov 11, 2022
Duration 1 h 34 m
Rating R
Genres
Website https://films.nationalgeographic.com/retrograde
View All Details

Awards

News & Documentary Emmy Awards
• 3 Wins & 6 Nominations
DOC NYC
• 1 Win & 1 Nomination
LifeArt Festival
• 1 Win & 1 Nomination

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