{"id":3646,"date":"2016-07-29T19:52:25","date_gmt":"2016-07-29T23:52:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/?p=3646"},"modified":"2024-08-10T10:55:49","modified_gmt":"2024-08-10T14:55:49","slug":"a-war-2015","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/?p=3646","title":{"rendered":"A War-2015"},"content":{"rendered":"

A War-2015<\/strong><\/p>\n

Director Tobias Lindholm<\/strong><\/p>\n

Starring <\/strong>Pilou Asb\u00e6k,<\/strong> <\/span>Tuva Novotny<\/strong><\/p>\n

Scott\u2019s Review #456<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"80057926\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Reviewed July 29, 2016<\/p>\n

Grade: B+<\/strong><\/p>\n

A War, a 2015 film, made in Denmark, is a thought-provoking story that one might think is a standard “war film” on the surface, but as the film moves along, it turns into something much deeper and rather cerebral.<\/p>\n

A slow mover, but necessary to the nature of the film’s message, \u00a0the viewer questions what he or she might do in a similar predicament as the main character faces a moral dilemma.<\/p>\n

The action begins in Afghanistan as we meet a company of Danish soldiers assigned to protect civilians from the evil Taliban. They are young, good-looking, and of varying ethnic groups (a nice touch in the film).<\/p>\n

One female soldier seems to be thrown in for good measure, though we never see her in combat.<\/p>\n

Their leader is Commander Claus Pedersen, a good, decent man, well-liked by his troop. They have all seen death and destruction, and Pedersen frequents the middle of the action on the front lines.<\/p>\n

He is one of the guys.<\/p>\n

When one of his men is wounded during an attack, Pedersen makes a controversial decision, resulting in the deaths of civilians, and some children.<\/p>\n

Pedersen is then charged with a war crime and sent home to Denmark to be tried. His wife and three small children are happy he is home, but distraught and opinionated on how he should testify.<\/p>\n

One interesting aspect of A War is how the film shifts gears around the mid-way point.\u00a0 The camaraderie between the soldiers in the field and their bond with Afghan civilians are mixed with dangerous threats from the Taliban.<\/p>\n

I kept waiting for an attack to occur and in these ways, the film is a standard war film.<\/p>\n

Mixed in are snippets of “home life” involving Pedersen’s wife. She appears a typical military wife, struggling to raise her three kids, one of whom has recently developed behavioral problems.<\/p>\n

They miss Pedersen.<\/p>\n

The latter half of the film is set inside a courtroom. Pedersen is interrogated by a female prosecutor and while she sympathizes with his anguish, she is determined to convict.<\/p>\n

After all, children were killed because of his actions.<\/p>\n

The filmmakers are on Pedersen’s side, but the conflict makes for great analysis. Should he be held accountable for deaths in a war zone? The viewer will ask him or herself- “would I lie to stay out of jail and with my family who needs me”?<\/p>\n

Interesting stuff to ponder.<\/p>\n

A War, ironic to the title, is calm and subdued, very impressive to me.\u00a0 To compare, a film of this nature, targeted as a “blockbuster” would likely have technical enhancers, dramatic music undoubtedly would play to cue action in the war zone.<\/p>\n

When Pedersen’s verdict is read aloud in the courtroom, it would normally contain some jarring camera shots or an intense musical score.<\/p>\n

A War has none of those and that brings a certain reality- this could be everyday life. A decision is made and life quietly goes on.<\/p>\n

Some complaints about A War being a tad boring. I see their point, but it is an atypical war film. It is understated and character-driven, rather than a shoot ’em up, overwrought with testosterone action, or laced with artillery or explosions.<\/p>\n

A War (2015) is not a mainstream film- much to its credit. Rather it is methodical and fraught with interesting thinking points.<\/p>\n

Oscar Nominations:\u00a0<\/strong>Best Foreign Language Film<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A War-2015 Director Tobias Lindholm Starring Pilou Asb\u00e6k, Tuva Novotny Scott\u2019s Review #456 Reviewed July 29, 2016 Grade: B+ A War, a 2015 film, made in Denmark, is a thought-provoking story that one might think is a standard “war film” on the surface, but as the film moves along, it turns into something much deeper … Continue reading A War-2015<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[240,1508,192,35,213,5244,5243,5245,206],"tags":[241,1509,193,67,214,5247,5246,5248,260],"class_list":["post-3646","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-2015-movie-reviews","category-danish","category-dramas","category-foreignfilms","category-foreign-dramas","category-pilou-asbaek","category-tobias-lindholm","category-tuva-novotny","category-war-films","tag-2015-movie-reviews","tag-danish","tag-dramas-2","tag-foreign-language-films","tag-foreign-dramas","tag-pilou-asbaek","tag-tobias-lindholm","tag-tuva-novotny","tag-war-films"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3646","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3646"}],"version-history":[{"count":15,"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3646\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20450,"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3646\/revisions\/20450"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3646"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3646"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3646"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}