SummaryThe first documentary ever chosen to compete in the International Critics’ Week at Cannes (where it won the grand prize), Janus Metz’s Armadillo follows a platoon of Danish soldiers on a six-month tour of Afghanistan in 2009. An intimate, visually stunning account of both the horror and growing cynicism of modern warfare, the film premiered at th... Read More
Directed By:Janus Metz
Written By:Kasper Torsting
Armadillo
Metascore
Generally Favorable
72
User score
Generally Favorable
7.4
My Score
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Metascore
Generally Favorable
79% Positive
11 Reviews
11 Reviews
21% Mixed
3 Reviews
3 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
Apr 14, 2011
100
It's a brilliant work of cinema, a nonfiction film as intense and visceral as any drama, and an emotional and moral experience that feels horrifying and exhilarating at almost the same moment.
Apr 14, 2011
80
The achievement of this film is to forestall and complicate easy judgment. You emerge shaken and bothered, which may sound like a reason not to see the movie. It is actually the opposite.
User score
Generally Favorable
71% Positive
10 Ratings
10 Ratings
29% Mixed
4 Ratings
4 Ratings
0% Negative
0 Ratings
0 Ratings
Apr 7, 2019
7
Very good Danish documentary, hard-hitting and revealing. One of the best war documentaries of recent years.
Oct 26, 2012
7
This documentary helps to put some perspective on the war in Afghanistan, in that other countries have also sent their brave citizens off to fight what was our war. It is one thing to go off to revenge the attack on 9/11 if you are a US citizen, it is entirely another thing to take that step to defend an Allie. How anyone could watch this film and then call it boring is beyond me. Life in a war zone is endless boredom, interrupted but extreme terror, savage injuries, death, and exhilaration. This film did an excellent job or portraying that reality. Kudos to the cameraman who bravely went into battle with this forces.
Apr 12, 2011
80
While much of Armadillo echoes last year's "Restrepo," the unprecedented access of director Janus Metz and cameraman Lars Skree reveals the alternating waves of frontline tedium and terror with fresh immediacy.
Apr 14, 2011
67
For their part, the Danes are either having more of an adventure or covering up their trauma with chest-thumping braggadocio; almost to a man, they're ready to come back for more.
Apr 19, 2011
60
With perspective firmly confined to the soldiers, Armadillo has inevitably invited many comparisons to "Restrepo," last year's Oscar nominated documentary about Western forces trying to gain ground in Afghanistan. But "Restrepo" is by far the better film.
Apr 14, 2011
50
Armadillo tells us lots of things we shouldn't be so naïve as to think we don't already know. Maybe we need to see these things again and again, just so we don't lose sight of the costs and risks of the wars in which American and European soldiers are currently engaged.
Apr 27, 2011
4
better than restrepo but still a bore to watch. i'm sure the experience of war is harrowing but these documentaries are not. just like restrepo it shows a bunch of stereotypical military guys with superior training and weapons than their enemy, walking around accidentally killing livestock and the occasional civilian. inevitably they kill a few taliban and an IED blows up someone, but nothing changes. there's no sense of accomplishment. it plays out like nothing more than a pointless job, like working at mcdonalds.
Production Company:
- Fridthjof Film
Release Date:Apr 15, 2011
Duration:1 h 40 m
Tagline:For you it's a movie, for them it's reality
Awards
Cinema Eye Honors Awards, US
• 6 Nominations
News & Documentary Emmy Awards
• 1 Win & 4 Nominations
Bodil Awards
• 3 Wins & 3 Nominations
