SoTrumpBelieve Must See Movie...

Beystiman It's fun, it's light, [but] it has a hard time when its tries to get heavy.

TaryBiggBall It was OK. I don't see why everyone loves it so much. It wasn't very smart or deep or well-directed.

BeSummers Funny, strange, confrontational and subversive, this is one of the most interesting experiences you'll have at the cinema this year.

Wedge2 Armadillo documents the six-month tour of a Danish military unit at Camp Armadillo, a forward operating base in southern Afghanistan. Much like "Restrepo" it was filmed by embedded journalists, took place around the same time frame and in the same country (though on the opposite side), included pre-tour and post-tour footage from the soldiers'respective home countries, and features a small team of Allied forces engaging the Taliban.I'm a big fan of historical films and war epics, and have seen a fair amount of movies and documentaries about global events, conflict, armed forces and government intelligence. As an American, I love a good civil war story, WWII drama and CIA thriller. But I also like to explore foreign films of the same genres -- to see what these topics/events/stories are like in other cultures. Sure, we might get an occasional glimpse at an ally country (James Bond movies) or opposition/enemy ("Valkyrie" / "U-571" / "Hunt for Red October"), but these typically only give us superficial perspectives. So one of the things I really enjoyed about "Armadillo" is that it provides a unique, raw, behind-the-scenes look at what wartime military life is like in another country (Denmark) -- from how the families cope with the fear & anxiety of having loved ones in harm's way, to how their troops react in combat.Regardless of the "rules of engagement" controversy that ensued when this film came out (which I won't go into because it involves a spoiler of sorts), I was really impressed by how well-trained and prepared the young Danish soldiers were. I don't know why, but I wasn't expecting that. Although Denmark is much smaller than the U.S. (roughly half the size of South Carolina) and our countries may not have a lot in common, life in Afghanistan for Danish and American troops seems almost identical. They appear to receive similar training, use a lot of the same equipment, follow the same protocols, conduct the same types of operations, and have similar camp "cultures." Even the familial and societal dynamics felt familiar. While many Europeans (IMO) harbor bitter "it's all America's fault that we're in this" anti-war sentiments, the Danish civilians in this film seemed more sympathetic to the war effort, displayed a lot of patriotism and national pride, and showed strong support for their troops. I was sincerely moved by the (all-too-familiar) emotional airport scenes where families are sending off their sons/brothers/boyfriends to war -- and then eventually welcoming them home.As far as action goes, there are a handful of suspenseful combat scenes -- including one intense, up-close, bloody skirmish that involves several allied and combatant casualties. (This is the part that sparked the aforementioned controversy.) I don't think I've ever seen fighting that "real" where the camera was so close. At one point the cameraman, Taliban and Danish soldiers were within 10 yards of each other while exchanging gunfire and grenades.But this film is about so much more than action/combat. It forced me to think about things that I wasn't expecting, and it did so in a very subtle way. For me, that's one of the hallmarks of a good documentary.9/10 (Original review date: October 2011)

billcr12 A first rate documentary following a Danish military unit at a base named Armadillo in Afghanistan, the director uses the perspective of the ground soldiers to tell the story. On an early patrol they hand out candy and toys to the local children and question a man about the Taliban. He refuses to answer for obvious reasons and the boys in uniform return to camp. These young men play video games and watch pornographic videos during the down times in between the battles with the enemy. One of the commanders is the victim of a roadside bomb, but after medical treatment for a skull fracture he returns. Three other Danish soldiers are not so lucky and are killed by a roadside device. There is payback from their fellow troops as the attack the Taliban and kill five of them in a firefight. The dead are shown on camera, the director does not shy away from letting the audience experience the brutality of war. This is a must see and sobering reality check, especially for military leaders around the world.

D. B. Reading reviews of this film, I noticed a lot of extreme praise, lauding this documentary as being perhaps, the "best war documentary ever made". With the praise so high, it is tempting therefore to look for the film to be the most dramatic, or visually compelling sight ever.Looking at the film that way, it is quite possible that you will be disappointed. This is not because the film is bad, far from it, but rather, is because the film has distinct and particular strengths.One of those strengths is paradoxically, the reasonably low casualty rate of of the protagonist unit, and reasonably low level of "blood and guts." Holding down the level of gore is very important because a lot of people watching war documentaries become too shocked and revolted to be able to draw much meaning from the film. This documentary shows enough for someone with little experience in such matters to be able to "get it" without being so shocked that the horror overwhelms everything else.The second strength of this film is in its being in the right places at the right time to capture a good sense of events. In contrast to some reviewers, I cannot say that the photography is absolutely the best; an experienced war photographer might be able to film things better in combat, but the camera is at least, generally in the right place, and the confusion of war becomes something understandable to the audience.The third big strength of this film is in capturing the way that morality for someone fighting a war is often experienced differently than a person who is not in that situation would expect. This is the outstanding feature of this documentary, and I am aware of no other that comes close to explaining this situation to a civilian or person unfamiliar with conflict.The fourth strength of this documentary is in its capture of the boredom and frustrations of military service.The upshot of all this is that "Armadillo" is a very informative film, and one that does a great deal to bridge the gap between civilians and the military. For all those guys who have been in the military, and who are frustrated by the fact that other people just don't "get it", this could be very useful.

Howard Schumann What would make a young man who has just completed a harrowing and brutal six month tour of duty in Afghanistan decide to return for another stint? The answer to that question is puzzling, but it is made a bit clearer by Janus Metz' powerful documentary Armadillo, Gran Prix winner at the Critics Week competition at the Cannes Film Festival. Armadillo, like Restrepo, is named for the military base where the subjects are stationed. The film depicts the bravery and camaraderie and also the addictive high of several Danish soldiers, seemingly just out of their teens, that comes from their participation in the war in Afghanistan.Edited by Per K. Kirkegaard, Metz follows the soldiers from their farewell party at home filled with naked strippers to their arrival at base camp, moments of relaxation, briefings by their superiors, times of boredom, and the combat that includes some stomach turning sequences. The camera seems to be ever present and it hardly seems like an understatement to say that the director and cinematographer Lars Skee's lives were as much at risk as the soldiers. The film also demonstrates the plight of the villagers who are afraid of Taliban retribution if they cooperate with coalition forces. Caught in the middle, the Afghan civilians suffer greatly, standing to lose their crops, their animals, and their lives either from NATO forces or from the Taliban.What makes it even more distressing, as the film points out, the soldiers cannot distinguish between friend and foe. When one of the soldiers accidentally kills a young girl, all that can be offered is compensation while the Platoon commander tells the soldier that did the killing to shrug it off because these things happen every day. The camera-work is up close and personal and the horrors of war perhaps have never had such an immediate impact. We can see the look on a young soldier's face after he has just been shot and we see decapitated Taliban bodies being pulled from a ditch.While the film takes no position either pro-war or anti-war, the inhumanity of war has never been shown more clearly and the soldiers boasting and laughter after obliterating a wounded enemy while high on adrenaline, caused considerable debate about appropriate military behavior back home in Denmark. Depending on your point of view the soldiers are either making a difference or perpetuating atrocities in an unwinnable war. What does become clear, however, is the bond formed by the men and their lack of questioning of their mission. Like adolescents on a drunken rampage, they are excited by the thrill of the moment. We owe Metz a debt of gratitude for showing us the mindless, sadistic, and dehumanizing behavior that war can induce. Armadillo stands as one of the most visceral and frightening documentaries about combat ever made.