Armadillo
Streaming (2)
Inhalte(1)
ARMADILLO is an upfront account of growing cynicism and adrenaline addiction for young soldiers at war. Mads and Daniel are serving their first mission in Helmand, Afghanistan. Their platoon is stationed in Camp Armadillo, right on the Helmand frontline, fighting tough battles against the Talebans. The soldiers are there to help the Afghans, but as fighting gets tougher and operations increasingly hairy, Mads, Daniel and their friends becomes cynical widening the gap between themselves and the Afghan civilisation. Mistrust and paranoia set in causing alienation and disillusion. Armadillo is a journey into the soldier's minds and a unique film on the mythological story of man and war, staged in its contemporary version in Afghanistan. (Verleiher-Text)
(mehr)Kritiken (2)
Eine aufmerksame Sonde hinsichtlich der Routine eines dänischen Trupps in Afghanistan. Regisseur Janus Metz hat eine modernen Form gewählt, blickt in die Intimität seiner Helden hinein, hört ihren Dialoge zu, rekonstruiert ihre Motivationen und fügt als sprichwörtliches i-Tüpfelchen perfekt zusammengeschnittene Aufnahmen aus Kampfeinsätzen hinzu. Metz ist nicht auf der Suche nach Kontext, sondern nach Normalität, Krieg mit den Augen eines Individuums (hier nähert er sich Maoz‘ Film). Armadillo stellt hier dank seiner hervorragenden technischen Verarbeitung einen modernen und kompromisslosen Dokumentarfilm vor.
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This is how I imagine a documentary that goes to the core and can convey the reality of war in a distant country to its viewers without any manipulative practices, in a way that even a person without deeper knowledge of the context and history of the Afghan conflict can still navigate themselves well in the position of a European soldier who is meant to correct the mistakes of two superpowers over the past 20 years. It is only here that one realizes how absurd the idea of resolving such a conflict by force is. It is a clash of two completely different civilizations and a conflict that has no end. In suppressing guerrilla warfare, heavy weapons and state-of-the-art equipment often prove to be useless. Tanks and cars destroy the fields of farmers whose interests the soldiers are supposed to defend. Similarly, any military actions have consequences for the civilian population, who usually prefer local fighters, whom they understand in terms of language and culture, over foreign invaders. The documentary portrays Danish soldiers as normal men with thinking that corresponds to their age and life experience. They want to experience some adventure, crave action, have normal human fears, and exhibit ordinary emotions. Armadillo is valuable precisely because it does not pretend to be anything it is not, and if anything is shocking, it is rather the hysterical reaction of the media and the public to the soldiers' behavior in the documentary. To me, the behavior of the soldiers in those situations seems absolutely logical, and it is rather sound judgment that is lacking on the opposite side. Overall impression: 95%.
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