This is easily one of the most original documentaries I’ve ever seen. Whereas traditional documentaries use narration and interviews to convey concepts and ideas (obviously there’s nothing wrong with that), Armadillo does away with that, opting to show war in its purest form. From a filmmaking standpoint Armadillo excels as the cinematography, editing, and score. While the pacing was very uneven at points and the contrast of hidden cameras was distracting, I still think that this is essential viewing for anyone who wants to get documentaries and war films in general as this is a great example at both.

A documentary about a group of young Danish men that leave Denmark to go and help the people of Afghanistan in the Helmand provence.

For a very short time, it makes you think these guys are doing the right thing to help the people of Afghanistan and when their parents say goodbye they are sacrificing their son for a better cause, the right cause.

When they get there you realise that there isn't a war, its all our chaos in a different language where anything can blow you up or shot you. It shows some of the realities of war and what goes down.

prrrrt

There's some really great sequences of gun fights that are edited like an action movie in this film, but I don't think they came together to make a really great film honestly.

Light To Decent 6/10

Now I want to watch Generation Kill again.

Lysande dokumentär om ett gäng danska soldater i Afghanistan. Mycket välgjort och med en sällan skådad intensitet. En av de bättre dokumentärerna under de senaste åren. Ytterst sevärt!!

After watching Restrepo, To Hell and Back, Dirty Wars, Iraq in Fragments, Gaza Strip (for a different perspective), it's difficult to find the takeaways in Armadillo. Of course, it's unique in that it's a detachment out of Denmark, a country who's participation in Afghanistan I didn't know much at all about. The choices I did appreciate had to do with access to the soldiers before, and after the tour of duty -- they're treatment was closer to a narrative montage, than standard news b-roll. The colorist made a great choice is desaturating the image and throwing up more greens and deeper blacks, as opposed to say an overly hot and brown color spectrum (maybe this is a Danish thing, or a color spectrum in the northern European regions). Other formal plusses was an unobtrusive presence to the soldiers, and of course, the director, Metz, and cinematographer, Skree, risking life and limb to put their audiences in the line of fire.

I can't, I just can't believe how it's like out there. Saving our lives so we can write these stupid reviews. Thank you.

nothing like watching an intensely realistic documentary on an endless war to definitely brighten up your day!

This was intense, especially the last third with the fire fight and its aftermath. Having served in the army and applied for a tour in Afghanistan but not being granted that wish due to too little service time remaining, by now I am pretty damn glad it turned out that way. Knowing the things I know now from lots of docs, reports, talking to veterans and my own experience in psychological difficult jobs, I would have been a wreck coming back from over there.

I had the opportunity to ask the director some questions when he visited my high school for a seminar and I thought that the characters in the movie was very clearly played up to be opposite of each other and wanted to know if there were some sort of instructions or edits made during filming to amp up the relationship between Rasmus and Mads.

I raised my hand in the auditorium and asked my question. He listened to it and then ignored it and asked for a new question. I have no recollection of any other question asked prior to or after mine. This is my only memory from that evening.

The movie is fine though and while I can respect the bravery it takes to make a movie like this I think it is more of a gimmick than anything else.

My haiku review:

Danish troops, Helmand.
Firefight peak experience.
But who was the snitch?

IMAC2

전쟁 다큐멘터리로서 멀리서 서술하는 게 아니라 전장에 직접 들어가 카메라를 들이 미는 시도를 하는 다큐멘터리입니다. 그 생생함을 어떻게 전할 것인가, 그리고 그에 대해 어떤 윤리와 태도를 갖고 찍을 것인가를 보면 상당히 흥미롭습니다. 결국 다큐멘터리라 하면 연출자의 개입이 어떻게, 어느 정도로 들어갈 것인가에 대한 장르로 보이기도 하는데, 이 영화에선 앞서 개입하기보다 있는 그대로를 보여주려는 모습이 더 커 강렬한 인상을 줍니다. 카메라를 군인 헬멧에 달고 직접 찍은 장면이나, 게임을 활용한 오버랩 장면이나, 병사들의 일상적인 이야기를 담은 장면 등 현실적인 전쟁 장면이 생생하게 그려져 있어서 굉장한 공포와 서늘함이 동시에 안겨지기도 합니다. 찍으려는 것에 가장 개입하지 않는 쪽의 대표는 역시 프레드릭 와이즈먼이 생각나는데, 그런 스타일보다는 조금 더 감정을 이끌어 내거나, 질문을 던지면서 자연스럽게 유동적인 모습을 남기기도 합니다.

insightful to what a war does to a person

loss

This documentary was hard to watch, but not because of the "gritty cinema verite" that was promised. While a frequent touchpoint in the user reviews is a claim that one will not find a more raw or *real* filmic documentation of what it's like to be a soldier, the reality of things is that soldiering is apparently pretty boring, and that the role of soldier is usually filled by meatheads. Not to say that there weren't interesting parts, like seeing the soldiers interacting with Afghani villagers and attempting to get them to work against the Taliban, but a lot of it just didn't make for good entertainment. Does a film like this need to be entertaining, or is the onus more on presenting something as it happened and leaving it at that? I really wouldn't change what this film did or how it did it, but all I know is that I had a particularly dull time in its company.

A documentary of Danish regiment soldiers in Afghanistan: guys leaving their homes, arriving to the base, going on their first round guarding the base, giving presents to kids, talking to the local farmers who are angry about their stepping on their crops, and who don't want to inform them about Taliban rebels because 'Taliban are here for good, while the Danish come and go', doing their first unsuccessful seek-out operation, and then responding to a Taliban attack killing 3 rebels with a grenade and another wounded guy with 40 machine-gun shots. A very credible chronicles showing the unbearable dullness, irrationality and violence of war, as well as how remote real military action is from the political rhetorics. A little too long and dull, as the modern warfare is.

This review may contain spoilers. I can handle the truth.

i liked it when the Afghan kid told the soldier to quit and go home

3.25

게릴라에 맞설수 있는 건 피의 복수뿐. 오직 그곳에 있었던 그들만 안다.