Like A Hijacking, Danish writer/director Tobias Lindholm’s previous film, A War has a deceptively simple title for a film that a complex, very human drama. In this film, Denmark’s entry for the Foreign-language Oscar, Lindholm does not address the idea of war itself but instead explores the soldier’s experience of it, in a neutral yet unblinking way.
A War is a gripping, tense film, focused on the very human drama at its core and the complex moral choices the characters face, while avoiding any hint of melodrama. In particular, “A War” looks at the moral choices made by one Danish commander in Afghanistan. The choices are made with the best intentions but with unforeseen and tragic results, as he tries to balance what is right for his men, Afghan civilians, and even in his own family back home in the fog of war. It is a film about grief,...
A War is a gripping, tense film, focused on the very human drama at its core and the complex moral choices the characters face, while avoiding any hint of melodrama. In particular, “A War” looks at the moral choices made by one Danish commander in Afghanistan. The choices are made with the best intentions but with unforeseen and tragic results, as he tries to balance what is right for his men, Afghan civilians, and even in his own family back home in the fog of war. It is a film about grief,...
- 2/26/2016
- by Cate Marquis
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
Chicago – Humanity and war simply do no mix. You could have the biggest guns, the most powerful bombs and the greatest army, but you’re also going to eliminate innocent lives, and affect those soldiers who do the killing. This topic is pungently realized in the Danish film “A War.”
Rating: 3.5/5.0
In the traditional of military films like Stanley Kubrick’s “Paths of Glory,” this film is about a military incident and subsequent trial. The difference is it also shows the trials of the home front, as a soldier’s wife keeps the household while the hubby is tending the troops. In modern warfare – the Danish platoon is in Afghanistan – calls to loved ones may be available, but the connection still is difficult to make. This is vital to the path of the main soldier and his story, and the fog of war, with the karma ambiguity that still occurs...
Rating: 3.5/5.0
In the traditional of military films like Stanley Kubrick’s “Paths of Glory,” this film is about a military incident and subsequent trial. The difference is it also shows the trials of the home front, as a soldier’s wife keeps the household while the hubby is tending the troops. In modern warfare – the Danish platoon is in Afghanistan – calls to loved ones may be available, but the connection still is difficult to make. This is vital to the path of the main soldier and his story, and the fog of war, with the karma ambiguity that still occurs...
- 2/23/2016
- by adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
- HollywoodChicago.com
Company Commander Claus Pedersen is a good man. We know this from practically the first scene in Danish director Tobias Lindholm's "A War," and not just because he is played with characteristic everyman integrity by the preternaturally sympathetic Pilou Asbæk. It's in the way he hovers worriedly over the radio back at base camp as he hears news of a routine patrol of the surrounding Afghan countryside going horribly awry. It's in the way he picks the exact right tone of voice to talk to the shellshocked men who return, some splattered with blood not their own. It's in the way his goodness is mirrored in that of his wife Maria (Tuva Novotny) at home in Denmark, raising three unruly children without him, in wry good humor. We know Claus is a good man for every decision he makes and every motivation he has throughout the course of this...
- 2/10/2016
- by Jessica Kiang
- The Playlist
Written and directed by Tobias Lindholm (A Hijacking), A War — one of the five nominees for Best Foreign Language Film — examines the divide between the military and domestic spheres in the life of Claus Pedersen (Lindholm regular Pilou Asbaek). He is unit leader of a small Danish Nato contingent in Afghanistan; his wife, Maria (Tuva Novotny), tries her best to hold down the home front, a battleground of another sort in which their three young children are non-lethal combatants. The separation of these domains becomes more and more clouded; the occasional satellite phone call is about all that […]...
- 2/10/2016
- by Howard Feinstein
- Filmmaker Magazine - Blog
The Danish actor on regrets, his strict upbringing and how time spent with soldiers on his new film, A War, changed his views
Pilou Asbæk is best known for his role as Kasper Juul, the spin doctor in the political drama Borgen. A War, his third collaboration with acclaimed Danish director – and writer on Borgen – Tobias Lindholm is out next month. The film is Lindholm’s gripping “stab at processing Denmark’s presence in Iraq and Afghanistan”. Asbæk plays Claus Pedersen, the commanding officer of a company of Danish soldiers on duty in an Afghan province, where an attack by the Taliban leads to him being accused of a war crime and put on trial back home. Denmark has entered A War for the 2016 Oscars in the best foreign language film category.
You’ve worked a lot with Tobias Lindholm…
I owe the guy a couple of pints. I did...
Pilou Asbæk is best known for his role as Kasper Juul, the spin doctor in the political drama Borgen. A War, his third collaboration with acclaimed Danish director – and writer on Borgen – Tobias Lindholm is out next month. The film is Lindholm’s gripping “stab at processing Denmark’s presence in Iraq and Afghanistan”. Asbæk plays Claus Pedersen, the commanding officer of a company of Danish soldiers on duty in an Afghan province, where an attack by the Taliban leads to him being accused of a war crime and put on trial back home. Denmark has entered A War for the 2016 Oscars in the best foreign language film category.
You’ve worked a lot with Tobias Lindholm…
I owe the guy a couple of pints. I did...
- 12/20/2015
- by Ursula Kenny
- The Guardian - Film News
The Danish actor on regrets, his strict upbringing and how time spent with soldiers on his new film, A War, changed his views
Pilou Asbæk is best known for his role as Kasper Juul, the spin doctor in the political drama Borgen. A War, his third collaboration with acclaimed Danish director – and writer on Borgen – Tobias Lindholm is out next month. The film is Lindholm’s gripping “stab at processing Denmark’s presence in Iraq and Afghanistan”. Asbæk plays Claus Pedersen, the commanding officer of a company of Danish soldiers on duty in an Afghan province, where an attack by the Taliban leads to him being accused of a war crime and put on trial back home. Denmark has entered A War for the 2016 Oscars in the best foreign language film category.
You’ve worked a lot with Tobias Lindholm…
I owe the guy a couple of pints. I did...
Pilou Asbæk is best known for his role as Kasper Juul, the spin doctor in the political drama Borgen. A War, his third collaboration with acclaimed Danish director – and writer on Borgen – Tobias Lindholm is out next month. The film is Lindholm’s gripping “stab at processing Denmark’s presence in Iraq and Afghanistan”. Asbæk plays Claus Pedersen, the commanding officer of a company of Danish soldiers on duty in an Afghan province, where an attack by the Taliban leads to him being accused of a war crime and put on trial back home. Denmark has entered A War for the 2016 Oscars in the best foreign language film category.
You’ve worked a lot with Tobias Lindholm…
I owe the guy a couple of pints. I did...
- 12/20/2015
- by Ursula Kenny
- The Guardian - Film News
Tobias Lindholm’s immensely watchable A Hijacking, set on the Somalian seas, premiered in Venice in 2012. Back on the Lido with A War, Lindholm enters the even more perilous territory of Afghanistan with this understated tale of culpability in war. Pilou Asbaek is company commander Claus Pedersen, leading his men on peacekeeping missions in an
The post Venice 2015: A War Review appeared first on HeyUGuys.
The post Venice 2015: A War Review appeared first on HeyUGuys.
- 9/10/2015
- by Jo-Ann Titmarsh
- HeyUGuys.co.uk
Company Commander Claus Pedersen is a good man. We know this from practically the first scene in Danish director Tobias Lindholm's "A War," and not just because he is played with characteristic everyman integrity by the preternaturally sympathetic Pilou Asbæk. It's in the way he hovers worriedly over the radio back at base camp as he hears news of a routine patrol of the surrounding Afghan countryside going horribly awry. It's in the way he picks the exact right tone of voice to talk to the shellshocked men who return, some splattered with blood not their own. It's in the way his goodness is mirrored in that of his wife Maria (Tuva Novotny) at home in Denmark, raising three unruly children without him, in wry good humor. We know Claus is a good man for every decision he makes and every motivation he has throughout the course of this...
- 9/8/2015
- by Jessica Kiang
- The Playlist
IMDb.com, Inc. takes no responsibility for the content or accuracy of the above news articles, Tweets, or blog posts. This content is published for the entertainment of our users only. The news articles, Tweets, and blog posts do not represent IMDb's opinions nor can we guarantee that the reporting therein is completely factual. Please visit the source responsible for the item in question to report any concerns you may have regarding content or accuracy.