Story
In February 2009 a group of Danish soldiers accompanied by documentary filmmaker Janus Metz arrived at Armadillo, an army base in the southern Afghan province of Helmand. Metz and cameraman Lars Skree spent six months following the lives of young soldiers situated less than a kilometer away from Taliban positions. The outcome of their work is a gripping and highly authentic war drama that was justly awarded the Grand Prix de la Semaine de la Critique at this year's Cannes film festival. But it also provoked furious debate in Denmark concerning the controversial behavior of certain Danish soldiers during a shootout with Taliban fighters. The filmmakers repeatedly risked their lives shooting this tense, brilliantly edited, and visually sophisticated probe into the psychology of young men in the midst of a senseless war whose victims are primarily local villagers. Yet more disturbing than scenes in which Taliban bullets whiz past their cameras is the footage of the young soldiers as each tries, in his own way, to come to terms with putting his life constantly on the line. Written by Karlovy Vary Int'l Film Festival
Synopsis
The film starts with the soldiers' last days in Denmark before leaving for Afghanistan. Scenes include their emotional goodbyes as well as a party with a striptease dancer.They are posted for a six month tour at Armadillo, a military base in Helmand province, Afghanistan, where some 270 Danish and British soldiers are based.
The film shows the soldiers going out on patrol. They hand out candy and gifts to the children. They question a local man about the Taliban who declines to cooperate and they return to base without incident.
The film depicts them as dividing their leisure time between maintaining their equipment and working out, calling home, playing shooter games and watching pornographic videos amongst other things.
Later in the tour the soldiers encounter armed resistance from the Taliban. In the ensuing battles buildings are damaged and locals report livestock killed. Some locals receive compensations from the base.
A Danish commander becomes a victim of a roadside bomb and is evacuated to receive treatment for a skull fracture. He recovers and returns to Armadillo. Three Danish soldiers from a neighbouring camp die in an IED incident and the film records a memorial service for them. Directly following this there is a discussion questioning whether ambushing the Taliban will work and subsequently volunteers are recruited for a night patrol.
At dawn civilians are seen fleeing the area. The patrol comes under fire and a soldier is hit. In the ensuing chaos it transpires the Taliban position is directly in front of the patrol in a ditch only three metres away. A hand grenade is tossed into the ditch followed by the order to 'neutralize them' and subsequent sporadic gunfire is heard. Five Taliban are killed and there are graphic scenes of their bodies being pulled from the ditch and stripped of their weapons. It shows that the Taliban fighters were armed with a single RPG-7 rocket propelled grenade,two PK machine guns and one AKM. Finally there is a subsequent air strike.
Back at base the patrol congratulate each other on the morning's work and there is a debriefing with accounts of four Taliban found in the ditch groaning heavily being liquidated 'in the most humane way possible' and the remaining Taliban trying to crawl away being 'finished off' with 30-40 shots.
Subsequently it transpires that a soldier has called home discussing the episode with his parents and has given them the impression that wounded Taliban had been liquidated and that the soldiers had laughed about it at the debriefing. The parents contacted the Danish Command about it and the commander addresses his men about the issues that raises. There is an ensuing debate amongst the men.
Later two of the soldiers on the patrol are awarded medals and the film concludes with scenes of jubilant homecomings and a return to civilian life. The final scene is of an introspective commander taking a shower.
Armadillo | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Directed by | Janus Metz | ||||
| Produced by | Ronnie Fridthjof | ||||
| Release date(s) | May 16, 2010 (Cannes) May 27, 2010 (Denmark) | ||||
| Country | Denmark | ||||
| Language | Danish | ||||
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