Watch A War For Free

One of my all time favorites.

Boring, long, and too preachy.

It's a mild crowd pleaser for people who are exhausted by blockbusters.

There's no way I can possibly love it entirely but I just think its ridiculously bad, but enjoyable at the same time.

A WAR is a Danish war drama exploring the relationships between men on the battlefield and the consequences of high-intensity combat. It boasts a starring role for the engaging actor Pilou Asbaek, best known to international audiences for his roles in A HIJACKING and GAME OF THRONES. The film begins with the usual Afghan conflict scenes that will be familiar to anyone who's ever seen a Middle Eastern-set war film or watched the news for the last two decades. Two thirds of the way in it turns into a courtroom drama. It's not the most exciting of films I've watched, being glacially-paced for most of the time, but it does have depth and important things to say about the nature of international law and the effect of war on the minds of ordinary men.

It's easy as an American, with our American-centric media, to think of military conflicts like those taking place in Afghanistan as essentially American conflicts. It's interesting, therefore, to see films that explore those conflicts through the perspectives of other countries fighting the same fight we are.Documentaries and fictional films I've seen that have the war on terror as their subject, "A War" included, remind me of the films I've seen about Vietnam. A bunch of soldiers wandering around, not sure of what their assignments are or who's giving the orders, living in a constant high-key state of extreme anxiety that any moment might be the moment where they or a friend die. Whatever the conflict's origin, the purpose seems to gradually be obscured by the sheer monotony and bureaucratic confusion of the whole thing, important decisions being made by men in offices miles away from where the actual fighting is taking place."A War" establishes this environment, and then asks us as viewers how well we would do at making critical decisions if we were in the same situation. The commander at the film's focus is put on trial, and from a purely legal standpoint should probably have been found guilty. He certainly lies in an attempt to gain an acquittal. But I for one didn't want him to be found guilty and didn't blame him for lying or a member of his unit for lying for him. The film asks of us what wars since the beginning of time have been asking of those who are forced to fight them: measure the value of one human life against that of another. It's an impossible position to be put in, one that has no good outcome, and one that is destined to haunt the person who has to make the decision for the rest of his life, no matter what he ultimately decides."A War" brought Denmark an Academy Award nomination for Best Foreign Language Film at the 2015 Oscars.Grade: A-

Reviewed by: Dare Devil Kid (DDK)Rating: 2/5 starsDirector/writer Tobias Lindholm's Danish war drama Krigen, which translates to simply "A War" in English, is completely devoid of staple war movie tropes of heroism, machismo, and intrepid sacrifice. While this method of presentation could have been a refreshingly welcome take on the war genre, it unfortunately stalls the film's narrative severely because of the fact that the movie's also devoid of any semblance of narrative conflict, intense drama, or any other absorbing qualities for that matter. If anything, Lindholm is quite content at steering the film into lackadaisical territory for most of its duration; a far cry for his erstwhile superior endeavors like "The Hunt" and "A Hijacking"."A War" alternates between the Afghan deserts and a courtroom in Denmark, and in the absence of any real depth in-between, the only moments that create moderate impact are the pauses taken by the film's main protagonist, troop commander Claus Michael Pedersen (Pilou Asbaek) – from guiding his regiment on their protective duties – to converse with his wife, who's managing the household affairs and three pesky kids back in Denmark. Denmark's overseas military obligations, tactical modus-operandi, and more pertinent issues related to the troops have been better highlighted in some of their TV shows and documentaries.Lindholm, instead chooses to focus on personal moral dilemmas, which wouldn't have been a bad thing had it been handled with more care and vision. When Clause order a civilian compound to be attacked after his battalion suffers an enemy bombardment, he's ordered home for a court hearing. Our hero, now, has to choose between incarceration for his actions or lying about them outright to save his honor, position, and remain with his family.Though this final act manages to lend some sort of emotional heft and compelling dram to the proceedings, it, unfortunately, comes too late, and by this time, you'd have lost all interest in Clause's dilemmas, actions, repercussions, or anything else for that matter. I wouldn't go so far as to call "A War" a poorly made film, it's just a dull effort that has a few redeeming qualities.Surprisingly, "A War", has snagged an Oscar nominee this year in the Foreign Language Film category. Perhaps, the Academy jury saw something I couldn't, or, maybe, this is another in their long history of missteps. Either way, I'd wager that the other four nominees aren't going to be overly perturbed about competition from Lindholm's film.

Modern local conflicts and crisis areas have brought along a different approach in depicting military activities - confrontations without clear battle fronts, with a foreign military mission in assisting role. But as, in essence, there is a war going on, one is unable to predict every next move and incorporate all situations/events into specific legal framework; in the event of military events, there are always casualties.Such is the background and essential point in Krigen, where the Danish Company commander Claus M. Pedersen (solidly performed by Pilou Asbæk) has to equally deal with both a severe accusation against him and his family (the characters of his spouse and three children seem to be more dynamic and interesting than those of officers and soldiers). I know that legal proceedings are not snappy, particularly among the Danes who are curbed and reticent, but still - the plot is a bit slow and arid, often uncovering the documentary aspect rather than that of a feature film, and the solution and the final scene are too plain. All this is just a narration running its course, and most of otherwise good and distinct actors have nothing profound to perform. Krigen is not a bad film, but not at the level of e.g. Tobias Lindholm's Jagten or Submarino. For me, Krigen is a less intensive and less diverse than some related films, e.g. Stop-Loss or Brothers. Despite having an Oscar nomination, I would be surprised if it gets this award.