Keswick Film Club - Armadillo

Synopsis

A completely different film to last week, this documentary was made over six months, following some Danish troops on a tour of duty in Helmand province, Afghanistan. As such, we see the new troopers start out from Denmark and growing gradually indifferent to the locals as the reality of their situation takes hold. Trying to befriend the locals is not an easy task when you are seen as ‘just another man with a gun’ The courageous director and photographer lived with these troops and manage to show all scenes without judgment, even the one which became notorious in Denmark, showing the Danes killing five injured Taliban troopers with a grenade. Was this a war crime, or were they protecting themselves?

This film gives us the chance to witness Afghanistan from the frontline in what even the US online magazine Salon decided was ‘a mesmerizing and terrifying documentary that can stand among the greatest war movies ever made'