Armadillo

The true passion of war.

Armadillo is a war documentary by Janus Metz following Danish soldiers during their tour in Armadillo a Forward Operating Base in the Helmand province in Afghanistan.

The thing that most impresses me is how different this is from the usual war-doc format, there are no interviews, no one talks directly to the camera and there are no voice overs commenting the story. I had to go and check if it really was a moc-doc or a real documentary. And this is the real deal.

There are no over-the-top explosions, no one-man army bullshit, no heroes. These are real people fighting a very hard war because the only way they can tell civilian from enemy is when they are being shot at. Imagine that, fighting a war where you never get to fire the first shot.

One thing that stuck with me is how chaotic it all was. There's even a time where they seem to be firing at each other.

The documentary allows us to dive deep into the minds of young soldiers and how they deal with war. And then we see how public opinion feels about the way the killing is done. It still amazes me how, in this day and age, people still think that are can be civil...

The camera work and sound is nothing short of amazing. The way that this movie looks and feels is very similar to Kathryn Bigelow's The Hurt Locker. This can mean two things either Kathryn did an amazing job is recreating a war scenario or Janus Metz and Lars Skree (cameraman) are to be commended for making reality seem like a movie. I think both are true.

If you haven't then please watch this movie if nothing else than for the sole purpose of being a little more aware of how this war is fought.

Name: Armadillo

Genre: Documentary

Date of Release: 2010

Director: Janus Metz

Rating: 9/10