Review: Danish Oscar Entry 'A War'

Nominated for a Best Foreign Language Oscar, A War is a squirm-in-your-seat journey into the fog of war and the various conflicts, both internal and external, that arise when a soldier tries to act morally while being ripped apart by competing interests under the most stressful of circumstances.

The film features the Danish director-actor duo of Tobias Lindhom and Pilou Asbeak, who worked together in 2012's A Hijacking. Here, Asbeak plays Claus, a father who's commanding a group of soldiers in Afghanistan, protecting villagers against the influence of the Taliban. Meanwhile, his wife, Maria, (Tuva Novotny) holds down the fort at home, dealing with the couple's three children.

From the start, Lindhom has us on edge. Soldiers carefully walk on patrol amid oppressive silence and the threat of IEDs. It's only a matter of time before an explosion jars us with the image of a young man's legs blown off and his comrades rushing to save his life. The introduction sets the film's tone on war: While moments of heroism and brotherhood shine through occasionally, they are overshadowed by the specter of death, destruction and sudden, life-shattering violence.

The core of the film revolves around a single choice Claus makes to save one of his comrades by calling an artillery strike on a building, which turns out to be full of civilians, including children. In the aftermath, Claus' troops see him as a hero and fearless leader, but the glory soon fades as he's charged in military court and faces years in prison for killing civilians.

The case against Claus boils down to whether or not he saw (or heard there was) Taliban in the building he had bombed. As his lawyer (played by the excellent Søren Malling) explains, if he just insists that he saw Taliban troops, the bombing would be justified. But if he doesn't, he goes to prison.

Claus' wife urges him to lie if he must for the sake of their children. After all, he was trying to save his friend, right? He's not a bad guy, he didn't mean to kill those people. It was all just a terrible accident, and war is full of terrible accidents...or so her logic goes.

A War makes palpable the difference between intentions and consequences by showing how Claus can be, even in his own eyes, both a villain and a hero. In the end we are asked to judge Claus as he tries to justify his actions to himself and the court. Even so, what can a man really do when his children ask him before bedtime: "Daddy, did you kill kids?"

A War is playing at the Edina Cinema.