A War (Krigen)

Dir: Tobias Lindholm

2015

****

Krigen's (A War) intentions were quite difficult to decipher at the beginning as it looked and felt like just another modern day war film with no particular redeeming feature. It was very similar to Tobias Lindholm's previous film A Hijacking, in that the film has two halves. In A Hijacking we saw the events of the actual hijacking of a merchant ship through the eyes of the victims and the process of negotiation from the CEO back home. In A War, we see a solder on routine patrols and dealing with various dangerous incidents while his wife is at home looking after their kids and dealing with their unruly behaviour that is a result of their Dad being away. An interesting look at modern war and how it effects families but nothing new, I expected more from a great director like Lindholm, but then it became clear. A War shows the typical so that it can explore the complicated. I'm a firm believer in the idea that a great war film is an anti-war film, and I believe A War is exactly that but instead of stating the obvious horror of war, it is attacking the system, or at least, showing up its failures. This isn't about whether you agree with any particular war or not though, this is about how soldiers and civilians are pretty much damned if they do, damned if they don't. We see the Danish solders in Afghanistan, there to protect the local civilians but the truth is they are in more danger with their presence. After the main character has to make a difficult split second decision under fire, he finds himself under investigation for war crimes. Lindholm raises two very important arguments through two key scenes, both concern the death of civilians and the legality of conflict and how some rules totally contradict everything a solder is taught. It explores an unpleasant grey area that has no right or wrong, dissecting the structure of war and focusing on the impossible position of the solder. Its surprisingly non-biased and shows the fault with many solder's way of thinking - taught or not taught, I say surprising as the solders are played by real solder who have all served in Afghanistan. The story has no blame, there is no preaching and nothing is justified or condemned, it purely tells it like it is and leaves the viewer to decide what is right and what is wrong, for me it shows just how manipulated people are, quite needlessly and just how ridiculous and pointless war really is.