![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.filmdetail.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/04\/A-Danish-soldier-in-Armadillo.jpg\" "\\"A")
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A riveting documentary about Danish soldiers in Afghanistan<\/a> provides an eye-opening view of the War on Terror.<\/p>\n The directorial debut of Janus Metz<\/a> is a startling one and the title comes from the military base in Helmand province where troops are based for six months.<\/p>\n Over the course of the film we see various troops as they leave home, go out on patrol, get involved in skirmishes with the Taliban and deal with civilians caught up in the conflict.<\/p>\n Comparisons will be made with last year’s Restrepo<\/a>, the Oscar nominated documentary about US troops in the mountainous Korengal Valley<\/a>, and even Susanne Bier\u2019s drama Brothers<\/a> (2004) which explored how the conflict affected Danish troops.<\/p>\n But Armadillo has its own distinct flavour and part of this comes from the extraordinary level of access afforded to Metz and his crew, which one suspects would not have been afforded to a similar film about US and UK troops.<\/p>\n A brutal honesty pervades the film and it doesn’t shy away from showing details which don\u2019t make it on to the nightly news.<\/p>\n We see soldiers bored in their downtime as they watch porn, play first-person shooter computer games and make phone calls to worries relatives.<\/p>\n When it comes to the battlefield, the uncertainty and mistrust of the locals\u00a0isn’t\u00a0whitewashed as the local elders demand to know why innocent people are dying in the crossfire and even children insult the troops.<\/p>\n