''A War'' () is a 2015 Danish

war War is an intense armed conflict between states, governments, societies, or paramilitary groups such as mercenaries, insurgents, and militias. It is generally characterized by extreme violence, destruction, and mortality, using regular o ...

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super-g ...

written and directed by

Tobias Lindholm Tobias Lindholm (born 5 July 1977) is a Danish screenwriter and film director. His 2015 directed film ''A War'' was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. In addition to ''A War'', he has directed the films '' R'' (2010), ...

, and starring

Pilou Asbæk Johan Philip "Pilou" Asbæk (; born 2 March 1982) is a Danish actor. He is known for his role as troubled spin doctor Kasper Juul in the Danish television political drama ''Borgen'', and as Euron Greyjoy in the television series ''Game of Throne ...

and

Søren Malling Søren Dyrberg Malling (; born 3 February 1964) is a Danish actor. Career Raised in Kjellerup, Malling trained at Skuespillerskolen at Odense Teater in 1992. He is best known for his role as Inspector Jan Meyer in the Danish TV crime thriller ...

. It tells the story of a

Danish military Danish Defence ( da, Forsvaret, fo, Danska verjan, kl, Illersuisut) is the unified armed forces of the Kingdom of Denmark charged with the defence of Denmark and its constituent, self-governing nations Greenland and the Faroe Islands. The De ...

company in

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...

that is fighting the

Taliban The Taliban (; ps, طالبان, ṭālibān, lit=students or 'seekers'), which also refers to itself by its state (polity), state name, the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a Deobandi Islamic fundamentalism, Islamic fundamentalist, m ...

while trying to protect the civilians, and how the commander is accused of having committed a war crime. The film was nominated for the

Best Foreign Language Film This is a list of categories of awards commonly awarded through organizations that bestow film awards, including those presented by various film, festivals, and people's awards. Best Actor/Best Actress *See Best Actor#Film awards, Best Actress#F ...

at the

88th Academy Awards The 88th Academy Awards ceremony, presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), honored the best films of 2015 and took place on February 28, 2016, at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles, 5:30 p.m. PST. Du ...

Plot

Danish Danish may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the country of Denmark People * A national or citizen of Denmark, also called a "Dane," see Demographics of Denmark * Culture of Denmark * Danish people or Danes, people with a Danish ance ...

soldier in a squad patrolling

Helmand province Helmand (Pashto/Dari: ; ), also known as Hillmand, in ancient times, as Hermand and Hethumand, is one of the 34 provinces of Afghanistan Afghanistan is divided into 34 provinces (, '' wilåyat''). The provinces of Afghanistan are the primar ...

sets off an IED. He dies from horrific injuries while his commander, Claus, back at base camp can do little to help. After that, Claus resolves to join his men on every patrol. After treating an injured little girl, her family comes to the base because the Taliban has threatened to kill them for asking the Danes for help. Claus sends them back to their village. Meanwhile, back in Denmark, Claus' wife Maria is trying to hold everyday life together, with a husband at war and three children missing their father. The strain their father's absence takes on the family is seen as the burdens of parenting fall solely on Maria. The next day, Claus and his men return to the village to find that the Afghan family they had helped has been murdered. Then without warning, an ambush by insurgent forces ensues. Claus, in the confusion of battle, calls in an airstrike on a nearby compound, though he knows he lacks proper identification (PID) of the enemy. This allows the Danish troops to retreat without loss of life. However, Claus is charged with the killing of 11 innocent civilians and sent home. The potential consequences of these accusations shake him and his family. Claus' defense lawyer asserts that he needs to claim that he had PID in order to avoid prison. Though he plans to admit his guilt, Maria angrily admonishes him for not thinking of his children's lives without a father. He decides to claim he called in an airstrike because he had PID. Evidence against him mounts as Claus' men testify in court. His close friend and comrade, who had known him since boot camp, testifies that Claus, despite being a good officer, was feeling the strain of leadership and making rash decisions. In the witness box, Claus maintains his position. After being probed by the prosecution, he angrily declares that those who have not been in combat can not understand what it takes to make life and death decisions. Unexpectedly, Claus' former radio operator testifies that he identified muzzle flashes in the compound, giving Claus a plausible reason to call the airstrike. Though this evidence is dubious, it is enough to convince the judge and sub-committee that Claus had a legitimate PID. Later while tucking his young son into bed, Claus notices how his son's feet resemble those of the murdered little girl in Helmand. He sits alone outside looking at the night sky.

Cast

as Claus Michael Pedersen *

as Martin R. Olsen *

Dar Salim Dar Salim (born 18 August 1977) is a Danish actor. He received a Bodil Award nomination in the category Best Actor for the film ''Go With Peace, Jamil'' in 2008. Early life Dar Salim was born in Baghdad, Iraq. He fled to Denmark as a six-year-ol ...

as Najib Bisma *

Tuva Novotny Tuva Moa Matilda Karolina Novotny Hedström (born 21 December 1979) is a Swedish actress, director, and singer. She was born in Stockholm, and was raised in Åmot, Brunskog, outside Arvika. She is the daughter of Czech film director David Jan N ...

as Maria Pedersen *

Charlotte Munck Charlotte Munck (born 2 December 1969) is a Denmark, Danish actress. She is notable for starring in the Danish police television drama ''Anna Pihl'' as the title character, which was aired on TV2. She was born in Aarhus and raised in the Oerst ...

as Lisbeth Danning * Dulfi Al-Jabouri as Lutfi "Lasse" Hassan

Production

The film was produced by

Nordisk Film Nordisk Film A/S (lit. "Nordic Film") is a Danish entertainment company established in 1906 in Copenhagen by filmmaker Ole Olsen. It is the fourth-oldest film studio in the world behind the Gaumont Film Company, Pathé, and Titanus ...

with support from

DR TV DR TV is an internet streaming catch-up television service for people in Denmark, made by Danish Broadcasting Corporation (DR). The service is available on a wide range of devices, including mobile phones and tablets, personal computers, and smar ...

and received eight million Danish kroner from the

Danish Film Institute The Danish Film Institute ( da, Det Danske Filminstitut) is the national Danish agency responsible for supporting and encouraging film and cinema culture, and for conserving these in the national interest. Also known as ''Filmhuset'' ("the film h ...

. Filming took place in

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...

, in

Konya Konya () is a major city in central Turkey, on the southwestern edge of the Central Anatolian Plateau, and is the capital of Konya Province. During antiquity and into Seljuk times it was known as Iconium (), although the Seljuks also called it D ...

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...

and in Almeria, Spain. It ended in January 2015. With the exception of the main characters, the soldiers are played by actual Danish soldiers who had served in Afghanistan.

Reception

''A War'' received critical acclaim. On

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

, the film has a 91% "Certified Fresh" score based on 93 reviews, with an average rating of 7.84/10. The site's consensus states: "Tense, intelligent, and refreshingly low-key, ''A War'' is part frontline thriller, part courtroom drama -- and eminently effective in both regards."

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

reports an 81 out of 100 rating based on 29 critics, indicating "universal acclaim". Olly Richards from ''

Empire magazine ''Empire'' is a British film magazine published monthly by Bauer Consumer Media. The first issue was published in May 1989. History David Hepworth of Emap, the publisher of British music magazines '' Q'' and ''Smash Hits'', among other title ...

'' gave the film four out of five stars saying "It's a riveting, complex film that asks one simple question: what do you do when there's no right answer?". Clayton Dillard from ''

Slant magazine ''Slant Magazine'' is an American online publication that features reviews of movies, music, TV, DVDs, theater, and video games, as well as interviews with actors, directors, and musicians. The site covers various film festivals like the New York ...

'' gave it a mixed review: two out of four stars saying "Tobias Lindholm stages his claims through clunky dramaturgical scenarios, with the seams exposed at every turn."

References

External links