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.

This is an up-close look into the world of warfare and the decisions that Commanders must make on a daily basis. Sometimes circumstances require such quick decisions that they may be seen as questionable, nay criminal, by those who have never held a gun or worked a stressful job in their lives (the prosecution), but thank God there are men brave enough to go into the darkest places of the world, leaving behind the ones they love, often for months or years at a time and even questioning why they are there, to keep evil from coming to our shores. It's a shame that, at the same time, there are such power-hungry people who will go to great lengths to destroy these courageous men for the sake of making their own careers.This movie is a stark look into that world.The only problem is that Tuva Novotny seems to be the sole Danish actress. She turns up in every movie coming from that country these days, and frankly, as good of an actress as she is, it's getting old.

Have you ever thought about all the no win scenarios that soldiers in Afghanistan are put through on a near daily basis? No? Well this film is all about those. It is told through the perspective of one commander of a danish patrol. For the first hour of the film we watch their daily activities unfold. Like patrolling near by areas or associating with locals. Right off the bat we are introduced into the harshness of this war. With the opening scene we see a young man step on a buried land mine. With in minutes he loses his life and we get to see how this affects all the men around him. It's a jarring way to introduce us into this world.It's unfortunate that the rest of the film isn't this impactful. After this we follow the men for another hour or so and nothing like that first scene happens again. In fact it almost forgets that it ever happened with in ten or so minutes. I'm not asking that the entire film be a nonstop, disturbing, in your face action film.But I would have liked to see the film maintain any kind of consistency. It shows quickly how uneasy just walking around can be but this sense of unrest almost immediately wears off. It proceeds to become a regular old war movie just like any other we have seen. It made sitting through the first half almost a chore.There where a couple of great scenes thrown in there but it was mostly predictable and uneven. The best parts of the movie happen in it's latter half. Where our commander is being put on trial after ordering an airstrike on a Taliban soldiers. Come to find out, there weren't just Taliban in there. No, women and children where also among the dead.Once this information is discovered he is accused of not following protocol which lead to their deaths. This is where the film really blossoms. It is able to show that war isn't just fought out there. But soldiers often have to fight in court rooms where they can potentially go to prison for a simple lapse in judgment. It really is able to put into prospective how harsh war can be. Not just on the battlefield but after you get home. This is all captured extremely well by the films lead actors. Who do an outstanding job of showing the toll that this is all taking on them. One thing that is apparent that helped with their performances was the attention to detail.The films costume and production design is incredibly well conceived and convincing. Not only does this help the audience believe in what is happening but it helps every one on set. When you can see and interact with a real set or real costumes it can help push the film further into a sense of realism. Not only that but the dialogue between the soldiers is incredibly well researched. All of this is so good in fact that it feels more like a documentary than a drama. But this is also where one of main complainants comes into play. The film is shot to give the illusion that it is a documentary.This can be incredibly distracting. The majority of the shots are hand held and very shaky. Even when the film progresses into it's court room setting. If this was shot like an actual film instead of like a documentary near the end I would not be talking about this. But when you can't really see the main subject because the camera is moving so much it's hard not to get frustrated. Especially when the scene is in court room.We don't need this. It's nothing more than extremely distracting and obnoxious. That being said the film as a whole is solid. It shows the cost of being a soldier on and off the battlefield. And that one misstep can lead to serious punishment. It's very well performed and it's attention to detail is astonishing but some presentation issues and a very clumsy first half don't do 'A War' any favors.

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.