Armadillo

Year: 2010
Country: DENMARK
Run Time: 100 minutes

ARMADILLO is a sort of Scandinavian "Restrepo," a clear-eyed documentary that accompanies a band of new Danish recruits to the war in Afghanistan. We first meet them at home, days before they deploy on their six-month tour to the Armadillo military base in Helmand province. The boys hold a raucous striptease party, then exchange farewells with their tearful loved ones at the Copenhagen airport the next morning. But soon they're in Afghanistan, and the reality of war, with its alternating tedium and terror, sets in. The Danes go out on patrol, hand out candy to kids, and question uncooperative locals about the Taliban presence. To combat boredom during their free time, they call home, play shooter games, and watch porn. Then, one morning at dawn, civilians start fleeing the area. The patrol comes under fire and a soldier is hit. In the ensuing chaos, the Danes encounter Taliban fighters squatting in a ditch, three meters away from them. Someone tosses in a hand grenade and the enemy is "neutralized." When the shooting stops, the congratulations begin – but so does the soul-searching. ARMADILLO caused a furor in peace-loving Denmark where viewers were outraged over the soldiers' perceived callousness. (In Danish with subtitles) – B.B.

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