Preview of Sebastian Junger's New Documentary, "Korengal"
SCIUTTO: U.S. soldiers have fought in some of the most dangerous places in the world recently. Filmmaker and journalist, Sebastian Junger, charts their journey in a new documentary. It's called "Korengal." Takes us back to Afghanistan, delving into the emotional reality of modern war. Our Anderson Cooper talked with the filmmaker about why he made it and what we, as Americans, can learn from it.</s>ANDERSON COOPER, HOST, A.C. 360: So, Sebastian, even though "Korengal" picks up where the film "Restrepo" left off, you said it's different. It's trying to understand rather than experience. What do you want people to understand?</s>SEBASTIAN JUNGER, FILMMAKER AND JOURNALIST: Well, you know, "Restrepo" came out in the middle of two wars. I wanted civilians to get a feel for what combat is like for the soldiers we sent over there. "Korengal" is different. It's an attempt to inquire deeply into how combat affects these young men. It was made out there in the 2nd Platoon Battle Company in the Korengal Valley. And there were some very interesting conversations with these guys that we had about the consequences of all this. A lot of them afterwards really missed it and wanted to go back, which is a puzzling thing on the face of it, if you think about how hard it was and dangerous. And on the other sort of end of the spectrum, one guy ruminated for a while over whether God hates him for the killing they did. And then he hastened to add, but I would do it all over again the same way if I had to. So it's very complex stuff for these soldiers.</s>COOPER: But wanted to go back because of the intensity of the experience, because it was -- you -- you know, you talked to soldiers, to Marines, to those who have served, and they say often that it's -- there's nothing like it anywhere else. There's nothing like the bond they had with others, that there's nothing like the experience.</s>JUNGER: I think in combat you're sort of dosed, if you will, with two very potent chemicals. One is adrenaline, obviously. An enormous amount of adrenaline in combat. I think men in particular respond very, very strongly to that experience. And the other is just sort of human closeness. They -- they're sleeping shoulder to shoulder with each other over the course of a year on a remote ridge top, completely inter-reliant on each other for their survival. Out of Restrepo, there was no Internet, no phone, no TV, no nothing. They were just on a ridge with each other for a year. And that kind of intense human closeness, I think, actually reproduces our human evolution, our evolutionary past quite closely. And I think they come out of that experience really kind of missing it and missing the security of it. And they get back to this wide-open society, all of a sudden, they're alone again. And I think it's very, very unsettling for them. Those are the two things I think they really miss.</s>SCIUTTO: This new film is a follow-up to Junger's Oscar-nominated war documentary, entitled "Restrepo," which if you haven't seen, I'd really recommend. We knew very little about the last few years of Nelson Mandela's life. The father of modern South Africa passed away in December. And now, for the first time since his death, Nelson Mandela's widow is speaking out publicly. Our own Christiane Amanpour asked her if Mandela was aware of South Africa's struggles in his final years.</s>GRACA MACHEL, WIDOW OF NELSON MANDELA: I would say that he was aware about all these things, maybe until about two years back. But I decided to save him, to protect him from getting involved and knowing in depth what was going on, because he was such a sensitive person. And he wouldn't be able to act on those issues. And I felt, why to keep him with a heavy heart where he is not able to make a difference to change the situation.</s>SCIUTTO: You can see more of Christiane's interview beginning next hour on CNN International and also later on CNN.com. That's it for me here with the "Wolf" show. NEWSROOMS with Brooke Baldwin starts right now. All yours, Brooke.</s>ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.</s>BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: Jim, thank you so much.