Where to Watch Retrograde

Ready for something real? Join U.S. and Afghan forces on the ground during the withdrawal the whole world witnessed with documentary Retrograde.

A documentary film 20 Years in the making and shot over the 9-month period between the orders to withdraw from Afghanistan and the chaotic moments of the final withdrawal, Retrograde is a documentary well-described as “mournful” by critics. The emotional story follows the experience of Afghan General Sami Sadat, a man the Afghan people long considered heroic in his attempts to lead the Afghan army in their fight to hold back the Taliban. The future of the nation rests on one man’s shoulders as the U.S. special operations forces prepare to pull out after 20 years, $2 trillion, and 2,500 American lives lost.

With long moments of silence in the film directed by Matthew Heineman, no words are needed to describe the strong emotions facing the Green Berets and the Afghan soldiers they’d trained and prepared for the inevitable moment during two long decades.

We all witnessed what happened in the end, but it’s a different experience watching the events unfold from the inside when you learn where to watch Retrograde, the 2022 documentary released in the U.S. by National Geographic.

Watch Retrograde on Disney+

“There’s a Cost… There’s a Huge Cost”

Retrograde takes viewers to a world that’s alien to most of the audience, where not all people are born with the human rights many of us take for granted. Documentary filmmakers work on the ground as troops break the news of their impending withdrawal when both sides learn that “The Forever War” has an end after all. The sorrow of leaving behind men who’ve become brothers in arms and the fear and desperation of the civilians left behind to their fates is captured on film, offering the audience an inside look at the events leading up to the disturbing images broadcast on the news at home. Americans watched in horror as cities quickly fell to the Taliban and Lashkar Gar fell under siege from an advancing wave of Taliban troops.

“Retrograde” is a military term for the effort of withdrawal, including the removal of items and destruction of all signs of U.S. presence, including burning what’s left — revealed in the documentary in a way that foreshadowed what came later.

The betrayal and despair on the faces of those left at the airport in Kabul make the documentary heart-wrenching, but the film offers an important understanding of the complexity of American involvement in foreign wars that makes it worthwhile for every American to learn where to watch Retrograde.

Where to Watch Retrograde

Matthew Heineman is a critically acclaimed documentary filmmaker, famed for his ability to take audiences up close and personal to dangerous and/or bleak situations from the Latin American drug trade in his 2015 documentary, Cartel Land, to the 2021 film, The First Wave, taking viewers into the lives of courageous, overwhelmed healthcare workers during the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.

With Retrograde, Heineman offers viewers a harrowing look into the events of the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan as troops fight to safely bring out translators and other civilians who’d helped their efforts and who face certain doom if the Afghan soldiers cannot hold off the ruthless forces of the Taliban. With a true feat of journalism, Heineman remains carefully neutral and non-political, letting the viewers make their own conclusions.

You can stream the 2022 documentary Retrograde right now through National Geographic on Disney+ and find yourself immersed in the withdrawal watched by the whole world.

Watch Retrograde on Disney+