Armadillo

Yes it's another Afghanistan related post but this one is quite considerably different to Taxi To The Dark Side. It is another documentary but only in the loosest possible sense; truly this is the most cinematic documentary I have ever seen.

Danish filmmaker Janus Metz follows a squad's 6 month tour of Afghanistan. By focussing on a couple of characters, particularly the slightly aloof and thoughtful (though painfully reticent) Mads, Metz condenses that long period into an hour and forty minutes. This might sound reductive (in literal terms I suppose it is) but the raw emotion and boredom feel remarkably immediate and genuine. Metz captures the full spectrum of the Middle Eastern war experience: from the copious amounts of waiting, focussing on their down-time pursuits - pornography and baking - and the camaraderie that naturally ensues in such a hostile environment; to the high adrenaline buzz-saw dramatics of conflict against hidden Taliban adversaries. 

These experiences are all sublimely smeared in melodramatic visual photography and thoughtful use of sound. Often the natural score is replaced by one written by Uno Helmersson's score, which weaves in and out at tense moments. It's a superior score, sonically unnerving and adept at sustaining dramatic poise. Of course the high-quality production element is the chief criticism put forward by Armadillo's detractors: just how authentic is it? Was chronology affected in the editing process? If so, to what extent - were events deliberately manipulated to provide a gripping action sequence? These are all pertinent questions, but perhaps miss the underlying point the film is attempting to convey. The war there is futile. When faced with fighting an enemy that can disappear into the local community there is no way of winning. Metz captures this frustration amongst the men several times over. One is reminded of the excellent documentary on Vice with the English journalist Ben Anderson (both part one and part two, and look up Anderson's This Is What Winning Looks Like, another documentary that is breathtakingly incisive and relevant).

Naturally this film received a lot of attention in Metz's native Denmark. Anger was roused by the scene that depicted some dead and bloodied Taliban bodies in a ditch and the soldiers dancing round all smiles and languour. It was always going to be a controversial sticking point for the trigger-happy perpetually unhappy bourgeois crowd, who immediately filed complaint and outrage in the Danish media both against Metz and the soldiers themselves. But all that Metz was seemed to be doing though was to portray the harsh realities of a war. More nuanced than that even. The men in Afghanistan are trying desperately to fight an impossible conflict against a guerrilla enemy - whom, Anderson shows in one of the videos above, the soldiers rarely even catch a glimpse of - and to have killed five straight off the bat in a really intimate combat situation... I can completely empathise with their glee at survival, not only that but a confirmed kill in what must surely be an incredibly exhilarating experience. To paraphrase the soldiers at the end - 'you weren't there'. How could we, a faraway public, condemn the actions of those involved in a fatal firefight, especially in such a brief situation. There is no way of retrospectively moralising such a sequence of events when not in the immediate geographical vicinity. In that sense I am an apologist. And anyway a charge of - to paraphrase Apocalypse Now - war crime in the context of a bloody conflict is insane.

As a final note, I've no idea how Metz and his camera were allowed to get so close to the action. Brave man. Also 'Armadillo' is the Forward Operating Base from which the regiment are based. If nothing else the DVD cover (above) is way cool: a grenade transposed into a heart.