AllMovie

The troops at the heart of the harrowing special National Geographic: Inside the Green Berets are far from standard issue military men. As the U.S. soldiers assigned to a outpost in southern Afghanistan christened Firebase Cobra, and required to protect Afghani domestics from the brutal minions of the Taliban, these Berets walk a hair-thin line of risk between life and death, between sanctity and martyrdom. Following 9/11, the U.S. Pentagon restricted this region to the general press for reasons of security and safety, but made a brief, 48-hour exception for members of the National Geographic crew. During that precious span of time, the Taliban indeed struck; two American berets were killed, five others wounded, and members of the camera crew were severely injured as well. Inside the Green Berets presents the footage shot during that two day span, and thus creates an intense and uncompromising glimpse at the lives of the soldiers - the day-to-day risks they traverse, and the heroism they wield - in the said region.