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There are three ways to translate "Krigen" - the CMU film festival's terrific kickoff movie - from Danish to English: "War" would suggest the whole philosophical concept. "The War" would indicate a specific conflict. "A War" would mean any or all of a multitude of conflicts in which the grim result for combatants and civilians is always the same.
Choosing the indefinite article for "Krigen" was subtly correct, even though the war of its focus is the definite ongoing one in Afghanistan, where Danish company commander Claus Pedersen (Pilou Asbaek) and his men are stationed.
During a patrol outside their remote outpost, a soldier steps on an IED. His grisly death sends a traumatized squad member to the brink of mental breakdown. He can't come to grips with it, or with their whole involvement in Afghanistan. Why are they there?
"We're here to protect civilians - so they can have a life," says platoon leader Claus - to befriend and defend beleaguered villagers from the predatory Taliban. A thoughtful officer of the best and bravest kind, Claus decides to lead future patrols himself, to set an example.
Back in Denmark, his stressed wife Maria (Tuva Novotny) is trying to hold home life together with their three demanding children. The kids miss their dad painfully. Son Julius is acting up - and acting out - at school.
Back on the battlefield, Claus faces a tough asylum issue followed by an even tougher military mission in which his platoon gets caught in an ambush. To save them, he makes a fateful decision - for himself, his men...
