As the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have dragged on they have produced an increasing number of provocative war documentaries that have shattered many of the myths about the black-and-white absolutes of war that have often been sold to those on the home front. Armadillo, which screened this week at Austin's SXSW Film Festival, is one of the best films yet produced about the reality of life during a war. The film follows a Danish unit assigned to Helmand Provence in Afghanistan during a 6 months tour. The filmmakers hold nothing back in this intimate portrait of soldiers at war. They present a picture of young men who seem to lose their humanity in the brutal circumstances of war. The visceral picture of combat is harrowing and the filmmakers should be commended for what they have captured on film.
Americans need to see films like Armadillo as they contemplate why we are in Afghanistan. A film like Armadillo makes us ask ourselves if this war worth the human cost that we are paying and what it is doing to the soldiers that we are sending to fight these wars. The film has caused considerable controversy in Denmark. We need more films like it to bring this controversy to highly complacent America.
Americans need to see films like Armadillo as they contemplate why we are in Afghanistan. A film like Armadillo makes us ask ourselves if this war worth the human cost that we are paying and what it is doing to the soldiers that we are sending to fight these wars. The film has caused considerable controversy in Denmark. We need more films like it to bring this controversy to highly complacent America.