This eye-opening documentary captures the experiences of a platoon of Danish soldiers at a military base - code-named "Armadillo" - in Afghanistan's Helmand province, where the camera crew risked their own lives facing the same bullets as their subjects. Director Janus Metz is with this Danish band of brothers every step of the way, and the resulting scenes of combat are suitably terrifying. However, there is also deep sympathy for the bewildered Afghan villagers caught between their armed occupiers and the gun-toting Taliban, who manifest a deadly, insidious presence as they pick off the Danish patrols. But the film has a scope beyond its admittedly striking reportage, also delivering a universal portrait of warfare, where young men's seemingly essential need to prove themselves in the adventure of battle comes up against the realities of bloody carnage, moral responsibility and political expedience. Presented with all the visual intensity of a Stanley Kubrick film, this is not just a vivid dispatch from Afghanistan, it's a classic snapshot of men at war.

Danish soldiers are sent to Afghanistan in 2009 for 6 months, to help stabilize the country against the Taliban. They're stationed on Armadillo military base in Helman province. Unlike other war movies, this is the real deal – no actors.