Armadillo (2010)

Best movie of this year hands down!

At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

This is a must-see and one of the best documentaries - and films - of this year.

It’s fine. It's literally the definition of a fine movie. You’ve seen it before, you know every beat and outcome before the characters even do. Only question is how much escapism you’re looking for.

Well, this film is not bad. Really not bad. But that's not what I expected to this kind of film.Consider this film as a journey book of a danish advanced military base.It does not contain much action, emotion or anything but it shows things as they are.Action movie lovers will be disappointed, but army fans will like the honesty behind it.This film can give emotions if you engaged to army or if someone of your family did. But that's kinda all.

This is and will always be the best war movie ever. A war movie without acting, a movie that shows what real combat looks like in the eyes of a soldier. From when they leave there loved ones at the airport to when they come home after 6 months fighting the Taliban forces in Afganistan. The movie shows strong scenes and close quarter combat like you have never seen before. This movie made me want to join the army more than ever. To watch these soldiers fight side by side, back to back, protecting each others from the enemy is just so inspiring. This is no recreation of a war incident, this is real war combat. If you like war movies this is a movie for you, no doubt. A beautiful movie.The movie had gotten some bad criticism because of what the soldiers did in the movie. I will not say to much, but it involves how they treated the enemy after they was down. My opinion is f**k Taliban. I enjoyed every minute of it, especially the scene that i was talking about. And to add a bonus, me and some other students got a opportunity to see two of the movie makers explain how they made the movie.

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.

ARMADILLO is a documentary about a company of Danish soldiers in Helmand province in Afghanistan, though it focuses on a handful of characters in the same platoon.The most notable thing about this documentary is the combination of the exotic and the familiar. Denmark is not a nation I know well but what was so fascinating about this documentary was the ways in which the young Danish soldiers were similar to friends of mine in the British Army- and also the ways in which they were completely alien. The documentary itself is well put together, mixing the lyricism of a foreign land with the power of modern armies and the confusion of battle. All of this was part of a simple story as the Danes did a single tour of duty. The camera-work was highly effective and the editing excellent. The film- makers don't impose themselves except when strictly necessary to explain events or details. Most of the film is told simply, through the words and actions of those recorded. It gives the film a powerful honesty.The most interesting part of the documentary is towards the end when the Danes attack a ditch and kill a number of Taliban. Later questions are asked as to whether this was a war crime, whether they grenaded and sprayed with bullets, enemies who were trying to surrender (or too wounded to resist). The entire event, in all its confusion, is captured on film. The audience can therefore decide for themselves. Were the Taliban surrendering/wounded? What would they have done if they were in the boots of the Danes? The best feature war documentary out of Afghanistan so far.