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Armadillo

Armadillo

2010
Documentary, War
1h 45m
A documentary about a platoon of Danish soldiers in Afghanistan.
Your probable score
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Armadillo

2010
Documentary, War
1h 45m
Your probable score
Avg Percentile 63.85% from 293 total ratings

Ratings & Reviews

(293)
Compact view
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Rated 19 Mar 2015
80
80th
As chaotic as you would expect a war doc to be, with one stand out war sequence to help underline the madness of it all. If you are familiar with the modern war film genre, it will seem eerily cliche. I personally found the most chilling aspect to be the confirmation that some people really thrive in war. They enjoy it.
Rated 20 Feb 2012
80
84th
Soldiers in wartime are people with a job. Albeit a far more dangerous job that most of us will have. The movie unfortunately dips into a few moments of pathos, but the central point remains clear - these are not monsters, nor either are they heroes. Instead they are something we only find in the real world but yearn to tell about with narrative tools accostumed to fiction. These are people, and they are never treated as anything else.
Rated 08 Feb 2011
80
86th
Fantastic - wish that all documentary filmmakers would treat their subjects with same care, sympathy/antipathy as Janus Metz..
Rated 29 Dec 2010
92
93rd
I feel this documentary perfectly encapsulates the Afghanistan war. From the experiences of the soldiers to dealing with villagers to distinguishing between good guys and bad guys all the way to judgment in the heat of battle. It runs the gamut on topics, and makes you ponder your own opinions on these soldiers and their mission.
Rated 04 Dec 2010
70
67th
So this is what modern warfare looks like in reality. A lot of waiting in uncertainty, watching porn and walking around Helmand doing pretty much nothing. Plus the occational infight with the invisible enemy. 'Armadillo' is raw, intense and bold filmmaking, but never truly shocking nor surprising. War is cruel and utterly meaningless - well, I didn't really expect anything less.
Rated 05 Apr 2012
85
85th
Intimate, low-key documentation of a tour in Afghanistan. As predicted, the footage on display is quite stunning, in particular the combat sequences. Outside of those, however, the film remains just as interesting, with quiet, personal conversations and guys kicking about in the camp. Every time I see a scene of the soldiers communicating with their families, be it going out, coming home, or just saying hello on the telephone, I seem to get something in my eye.
Rated 28 Mar 2017
64
36th
Fly on the wall war doco, notable for its access & lack of angle. What was selected from 6 months of footage was, what was considered the more titillating, straight forward war zone content, gun fights, casualty reports, interaction w/ the locals and pining parents. No interviews took place & no plot line was manufactured sans the countdown towards the end of rotation, perhaps the film crew had their more creative ambitions curtailed, or the spartan 'run and gun' filming simply spoke for itself.
Rated 02 Jan 2011
77
76th
Amazing peek into the world of war.
Rated 26 Feb 2011
74
74th
Really interesting movie. I think this in a lot of ways is a great companion piece to Restrepo because they focus on the same thing using different perspectives and I feel, have a drastically varied tone.
Rated 07 Jul 2010
80
77th
Definitely worth a visit to the movie theatre, like so many Danes have done during these first 3-4 weeks in distribution, where it's been a clear national #1. It's well deserved that this is the doc to break fiction's dominans, because it's honest and neutral, allthough it's describing things that you cannot NOT have an opinion about. Should be school material as well, to show kids how fucked up modern warfare is and spare our future generations from this meaningless throwing away of human life.
Rated 22 Sep 2010
2
40th
This documentary needs balls. Having balls in filmmaking is today confused with not taking a stand.
Rated 02 Dec 2014
70
46th
Dokumentar om danske soldater i krigen mot Taliban. Er en del scener jeg er imponert over at de har fått med, og den maler ikke akkurat et pent bilde av de forskjellige typene som er med i krigen, og heller ikke deres befal.
Rated 06 Jan 2012
80
85th
Fears and strengths of these young danish men, dealing with both violent action missions and villager's contact, receive a powerful approach from Metz. But the most interesting thing here is the quality of the footage: instead of the expected hand-held, fragmented doc -- something close to news coverage --, the director films the war zone with real talent, giving us not just a register, but a ravishing real life drama.
Rated 18 Apr 2011
25
61st
"Janus Metz's project is certain to prove far more revelatory to his fellow countrymen than it will when it makes its stateside debut." - Andrew Schenker
Rated 16 Jun 2017
65
71st
Decent depiction of what happens when you send boys to war.
Rated 05 Feb 2011
85
91st
It has the gloss of a "Hollywood" productions, credit to the high quality of portable film making equipment, but its not make-believe. But for the uniforms and language these guys could pass for Canadians. Patrols interrupted by an IED, bullets whip overhead, frightened silence from a soldier shot through the shoulder. It's as interesting as Restrepo but shows just as much the apparent pointlessness of the whole mess in Afghanistan. Worth a view if you want to see what our troops are up to.
Rated 31 May 2010
75
77th
Well-made doc with revealing footage, shedding some light about life as a soldier. Engaging.
Rated 03 Feb 2011
50
35th
More propaganda than a real look at the war in Afghanistan, kids who dont have a clue what side thier breads buttered, sent off to war. You see the bright young innocent faces at the start turn to tired confused and disturbed shells when they arrive home. Yet at the end it announces that most are going to return. I also couldnt help but notice that the camera was kept away from the scene of the blantant execution of the injured taliban. Number 1 rule of the documentary, show the truth.
Rated 06 May 2012
96
72nd
En fantastisk ærlig skildring af de danske soldaters indsats i Afghanistan, og deres refleksioner heraf.
Rated 26 Feb 2017
4
77th
Å ena sidan är det oerhört förvånande hur tätt på krigshandlingarna kameran kommer. Intrycket är autentiskt och det blir tydligt hur kaotisk närstriden är. Vem skjuter på vem? Och ligger det nån i dungen tre meter bort? Å andra sidan är det vid andra tidpunkter ganska tydligt att kameran påverkar det skeende den vill fånga. Några soldater intar Ramborollen och vid något tillfälle är det tydligt hur man vill påverka bilden av vad som nyss hänt genom att direkt vända sig til
Rated 30 Jan 2011
80
84th
Nothing really surprising or shocking, but well-made and evenhanded portrait of the war and the soldiers. Very good.
Rated 24 Dec 2014
70
41st
It doesn't bother me if a documentary is staged or scripted or mostly assembled in the editing room, but it's nice when you can't tell. Even if it wasn't, this movie frequently feels staged, and the best sequence is a minimally-edited battle towards the end that maintains an extraordinary level of tension simply through the act of documenting.

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