Sayasam
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.
bananafisher
The only redeeming feature of this documentary is the scene with the Afghans, like when the kids talk to the Asian guy telling him to go home or when one Afghan man tells the Danish military that they have guns, the Taliban have guns but those who get killed are the civilians stuck between the warring sides. That to me is the main truth about modern warfare. In almost all the military conflicts nowadays around 80-90% of casualties are the civilians. That is what is really sick about modern wars. That and of course, the utter criminality of the whole thing.But instead the whole industry of movies about war and a good deal of literature all concentrate on the soldiers and their sufferings. And though, it is definitely possible to sympathize with the soldiers who have no choice but take arms to defend their homeland, it is hard to feel empathy for the Western youth who couldn't get a better job than go to a foreign land to kill people. This of course is always wrapped up in the heroic rhetoric but it is so thin and so obvious that there is nothing remotely enriching in this experience. You are there in the beautiful land with gorgeous mountains and you are just stuck at the base and can't even become real friends with locals. all you do is just blow up poor people's buildings, destroy their livelihood, and once in a while kill armed men or more often unarmed women and children.
jon-779-324856
Armadillo is a tour de force, reclaiming the pictures of war from the aseptic news rooms back to real fear, confusion and adrenaline that soldiers have to endure in a combat situation. The movie is captivating and demanding and certainly no easy experience for its audience. Still, it is worth it. Modern warfare and its embedded journalism has led to a distorted view of the public of what happens in war. Honestly, I thought such a frank documentation could only come from Europe. But now I heard from the American project "Restrepo". Really looking forward to this movie that sounds like a brother-in-arms to "Armadillo." There cannot be enough movies showing the cruelty and futility of war.
Frank Skov
As a former soldier, I was biased before seeing this movie. It is seldom that a documentary captures the reality soldiers goes through. Armadillo captured it, not perfectly because it is only a movie, but a close as any documentaries I have seen. It follows the Danish Soldiers stationed in Forward Operating Base (FOB) "Armadillo" (now named Budwan), which lies in the Helmand Province of Afghanistan. A province known for its Taliban presence and its high yield of opium. We follow the young soldiers as they go through their 6 months period, through their high and lows. It is a movie for both proponent and opponents of the presents of international troops in Afghanistan.