A War

2015 "Duty goes beyond the battlefield."
7| 1h55m| R| en| More Info
Released: 12 February 2016 Released
Producted By: Nordisk Film Norway
Country: Turkey
Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
Official Website: http://www.magpictures.com/awar
Synopsis

Company commander Claus Michael Pedersen and his men are stationed in Helmand, Afghanistan. Meanwhile back in Denmark, with a husband at war and three children missing their father, everyday life is a struggle for Claus' wife Maria. During a routine mission, the soldiers are caught in heavy Taliban crossfire. In order to save his men, Claus makes a decision that ultimately sees him return to Denmark accused of a war crime.

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Reviews

Hellen I like the storyline of this show,it attract me so much
Stometer Save your money for something good and enjoyable
Ceticultsot Beautiful, moving film.
BelSports This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.
Jackson Booth-Millard I probably would never have heard about this Danish film if it weren't for its inclusion in the nominations at the Oscars, I was hoping it would be a good one. Basically company commander Claus Michael Pedersen (Pilou Asbæk) and his men are stationed in the Helmand province of Afghanistan. Meanwhile back in Denmark, Claus' wife Maria (Tuva Novotny) is trying to hold everyday life together, with a husband at war and three children missing their father. The soldiers are caught in heavy crossfire during a routine mission, without proper Intel, Claus makes the decision to call in an airstrike to save his men. Claus is sent back home following this mission, and charged foe killing eleven men by the airstrike, the grave consequences of these accusations cause him and his family to be shaken. Claus explains in court that this decision was a critical requirement while they were under attack, one of the men defending Claus gives a false statement, meaning he is acquitted by the judge and co-committee based on the evidence, Claus is allowed to stay with his wife and kids. Also starring Søren Malling as Martin R. Olsen, Dar Salim as Najib Bisma, Charlotte Munck as Lisbeth Danning, Dulfi Al-Jabouri as Lutfi "Lasse" Hassan and Alex Høgh Andersen as Anders. It is a simple story of a military troop fighting the Taliban and protecting civilians, and the commander accused of committing a war crime, I will be honest and say that having to read subtitles at the same time as the action, I lost my way a few times, but overall I know it was an interesting enough war drama. It was nominated the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film of the Year. Worth watching, in my opinion!
David It's no secret that the Danish people are making very good films. In the last four years they have been nominated for three Oscars, including this film Krigen. It is a tale of Danish troops stationed in Afghanistan, with a special focus on their commander Claus Michael and his family back home in Denmark. The Danish troops takes daily patrols to meet and speak with the locals. At the same time back in Denmark, Claus Michael wife Maria struggles with their children, especially the middle son who is in a defying period. Life in Afghanistan changes quickly when suddenly one of the soldiers gets killed and Claus Michael during a heavy fire exchange, is force to make a decision that comes with devastating consequences.Krigen is like many other Danish films brutally realistic and dramatic. With a limited budget, they hardly had any possibilities to make a big Hollywood war film, but in some ways Krigen captures something else. With smaller environments, more focus on the soldiers mental health and the relationship between them, Krigen feels very realistic. It doesn't glamorize war or the life of war. When the soldiers lives are put on edge, you really understand that they are also victims in something they perhaps don't fully comprehend. Parallel with the war in Afghanistan, we also see Maria's life in Denmark. She is forced to fight her own kind of battle and the contrast between hers and her husbands life is very interesting.The best and really most scaring thing about Krigen is the moral questions it asks about war and warfare. When Claus Michael is forced to make a decision to save his squad, he himself gets into deep trouble and suddenly risk prosecution back in Denmark. The country he serves and the soldiers whose lives was his duty to protect, suddenly turns more or less against him. Very interesting and a bit disturbing. I don't think the purpose of the film is entirely to be an anti war tale, but more likely to create debate. What is it like to be a soldier so far from home and can the authorities back home in Denmark really make decisions about certain things when they couldn't possibly understand what it is like to be in the middle of a war zone? I have for a long time, wanted Sweden to make this film but Denmark beat us to it. A very strong and interesting film.David Lindahl - www.filmografen.se
jdesando A War is not just about one war in Afghanistan; it is also about a war at home in two parts. So I guess that makes three. Anyhow, director Tobias Lindholm, who scored big with his docudrama A High Jacking, repeats the illusion of reality while presenting a fully-metaphoric tale about a commander caught between saving a man under fire and endangering civilians, in this case causing the deaths of 11 Afghans.As Lindholm depicted the tension aboard the hijacked tanker, in Afghanistan the tension is even more pronounced as bullets and mines abound with death even nearer than aboard the ship. Company Commander Pederson (Pilou Asbaek) is a decent man, whose second war is his attempt to be a father to children who have seen too little of him. Young Julius starts his own wars at school and Pederson's wife has a challenge keeping order, much less worrying about her husband in clear and present danger.The third war, and the center of the film's drama, is his court marshal for violating International humanitarian law by murdering civilians. That he did not have PID (identification of enemy in the target) is the charge. Although it appears to be scant evidence he had PID, the director continues to show the confusion of fighting an enemy in the field and at home.What makes this an Oscar-nominated Danish film is the non-manipulative narration, the lack of screaming at home, and the first-rate acting and directing. While the story strives to tell a linear morality tale, it ends up telling a story of not-so-clear motives and circumstances, whereby a good everyman faces implacable forces on the world stage and at home.Although A War did not beat Son of Saul for the best foreign film of 2015, it will resonate with practically all the human race cornered by the conflicts in the Middle East.
sheddenmatthew Krigen (A War)Krigen centres around Commander Klaus Michael Petersen as he serves in Afghanistan. At the same time as this his wife (Maria) and children are followed as she deals with the struggles of being a single parent as your other half is risking his life to preserve the peace thousands of miles away. Having some time to reflect has lead me to conclude that this is one of the best and truest dramas I have seen in a long time. A lot of this is down to the writing, Tobias Lindholm for me is one of the best dramatic writers working at the minute. It just feels so real and genuine, and the normalcy makes the situations where it's really dramatic have even more of an impact. Lindholm's directing also lends itself to this 'realism' as a lot of it is done with handhelds instead of steady cams. The performances are fantastic across the board, however I can't really point anyone out in particular, not in a negative way but more, again because of the writing. No actor gets this meaty, grandiose dialogue because in real life nobody does that, it just all feels real. There are moments when you really feel the emotions going through the characters. Very early on - and this isn't really a spoiler - but there's a death in the regiment and one of the departed's squad mates is struggling to come to terms with this and their involvement in Afghanistan as a whole. This leads on to another point I was pleasantly surprised with, to do with the plot. There's been a lot of talk in recent years about how we're not being told about misconducts in the Afghanistan and soldiers are the bad guys but this, it never strays into that, rather depicts decisions made in the moment - decisions that none of us wouldn't do ourselves. To me anyway, I found how that was told strangely refreshing. Also something I want to touch on is the sound, or lack of it in this case. There is very little background score which is really effective when it comes to drama and I wish more filmmakers would do this.I'm not lying when I say that I'm struggling to find anything bad to say about this film, possibly the switching back and forth between Claus and his family may be slightly jarring for some, taking you out of it a bit, but I really don't know how that could have been fixed without taking that early character building stuff with Maria and co. out, something I'm really glad they didn't.Looking this up on IMDb I saw that Tobias Lindolm was also the man responsible for one of my favourite foreign films 'The Hunt', which really didn't surprise me as that also was also really effective in telling a down-to-earth story. Danish cinema feels like something of a hidden gem as not a lot talk about it, yet the standard of filmmaking is so good! I don't really know if I think this is better as 'The Hunt' got me really emotional which this didn't as much, but anyway if I had to give it a score I'd say a solid 9 Danish Pastries out of 10.