Armadillo (2010, documentary) - Metz's transfixing, powerful Afghanistan War portrayal

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1 Film Excess nomination:


Best Documentary: Janus Metz (lost to José Padilha for Secrets of the Tribe)


+ Best War Movie of the Year
 

The human heart merged with a hand-grenade is at the center of this striking poster for Janus Metz's Armadillo

We meet some of the guys that make up the Danish army's Afghanistan Team 7, as they are heading to the Danish base in Helmand in South-Afghanistan to win the hearts of the people there and kill Taliban enemies.

Armadillo is an outstanding war documentary, which has added value for Danes, as watching it for a Dane is almost like flying down to the war and experiencing it with our brothers, sons and grandsons. It is also a tough reckoning for Danes especially, as the film encapsulates part of the change our nation has gone through in the post-9/11 world.
Feature-debuting director Janus Metz (Borg vs McEnroe (2017)) and his photographer Lars Skree capture the soldiers in impressively intimate moments as the adrenaline-hungry big boys that they were, and then we witness how the gravity of the war changes them. The film also portrays real war engagement, which is obviously shot at the risk of death.
Armadillo is a deeply moving and strong film of good forces at work in a hopeless war, and maybe the year's best documentary. Kasper Torsting (Ø (2016, miniseries)) contributed idea elements.

Related posts:

2010 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]
2010 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]

 Metz talks to Empire Magazine about the film here

Cost: Estimated 1.5 mil. $
Box office: 2 mil. $
= Some uncertainty (but looks like a big flop theatrically)
[Armadillo premiered 16 May (Cannes) and runs 101 minutes. Filming took place in Denmark and Helmand, Afghanistan. The film opened #1 in its native Denmark, where 118k paid admission to it. It opened #84 to a 3k $ first weekend in 1 theater in North America, where it grossed 14k $ (0.7 % of the total gross). The film's biggest market by far was Denmark with 1.5 mil. $ (75 %), and the 2nd and 3rd biggest were Norway with 391k $ (19.6 %) and France with 44k $ (2.2 %). The film was nominated for a European Film Award, won the Critics Week Grand Prize in Cannes, 3 Bodil Awards (Danish critics' award), 2 Robert Awards (Danish Oscar) as well as other honors. Metz has left documentaries with his second feature, period tennis drama Borg vs McEnroe. Armadillo is certified fresh at 90 % with a 7.6 /10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Armadillo?