Critique: Armadillo Documentary!
Armadillo is an extremely powerful documentary that displays the very essence of military life. It captures the pride, fear, and solidarity of a tightknit unit of Danish soldiers as they risk their lives to protect land in Afghanistan against a radical group of Taliban’s.
Janus Metz is a phenomenal filmmaker who traveled to southern Afghan province of Helmand to create this outstanding documentary. He setup his production team for six months at the Armadillo army base. The estimated budget for this film is $1,500,000.
The production for this film is astonishing. Nearly every single second of shooting the videographers risked their lives, alongside the soldiers, to capture each waking moment of the experience on film.
Armadillo was awarded, “the Grand Prix de la Semaine de la Critique at the 2010 Cannes film festival. Also, it provoked a furious debate in Denmark concerning the controversial behavior of certain Danish soldiers during a shootout with Taliban fighters.” Said Karlovy Vary from the Int'l Film Festival.
This film gives its audience an intimate look into the everyday lives of soldiers. It captures gentle moments shared amongst the men and their family members. The action packed conflict that transpires between both opposing forces while they battle at war. There are vicious shootouts; as well as improvised explosive devise attacks. Some Danish soldiers lost limbs while other warriors lost their lives.
One of the most alarming moments to witness was the adrenaline rush many soldiers received, from their role, in the bloody and violent incidents that take place at war. Many of them loved to hunt and kill the Taliban soldiers. After a victory attack they screamed, “Those Taliban… Don’t they deserve to die?”
However, one ironic characteristic about war that this documentary vividly captured is the extreme emotional shifts that take place among the soldiers. In a split second, the audience might see the soldiers cheering after they took the lives of their enemies.
Then, in the next scene, the viewers may witness them extremely vulnerable as they talk on the phone, and confide in their family members about the extreme events that took place throughout their day. In a sense, as if they are not proud of the accolades they created at war. Essentially counting down the days until their return back home.
As one soldier spoke to his mother on the phone, he belted, “Just one more month Mom. Just one more month…” Maybe he said it to comfort her during his time away. Or, maybe he mentioned it as a comforting mechanism for himself to remain calm during those difficult times.
I found the social impact on the shoulders to be very interesting. Upon many of the soldiers return home they seemed to no longer blend in with society. They sat a little bit more slumped over at the lunch table. Or, while showering they dazed off into space. Their eyes were different. Quite frankly, they seemed depressed. However, all of the soldiers with the exception of one, made arrangements to return back to the military in their upcoming future.
The audiovisual elements displayed throughout this documentary are truly remarkable. It began with an eerie introduction that definitely set the tone for the rest of the film. Many of the shots were tight close-ups. As an observer, I could practically smell the blood on the soldier’s uniforms. The emotion was raw and the videographers captured every single moment of fear, thrill and camaraderie amongst the troops.
Throughout the film many scenes were extremely sensitive. As a result, the videographers did a phenomenal job by capturing powerful semiotics and raw scenery shots that aided to the story telling of the documentary. Many of the scenery shots served as a prelude to most of the powerful scenes.
The sound bed throughout the story was impeccable. The sound engineer excelled at appropriately matching the music with each moment. At times the music was loud and overbearing. During those moments the troops were exuding high energy by either partying or by being emotionally enraged.
Then, during other times the sound was silent or quietly pulsating at the rate of a heartbeat. During those moments loud noise was not necessary because the visual pictures were heart wrenching enough.
Overall I was extremely impressed by this film. Throughout the entire viewing I was mentally locked into the storyline. Aside from the extremely gruesome scenes, I found it very difficult to look away. The Danish film institute performed exceptionally well by accurately capturing the true essence of the Danish soldiers storyline by skillfully implementing great audiovisual, production and content elements.
