Denmark's contender for the 2016 'Best Foreign Language' Oscar

Yeah, okay, 'ain't war hell'. Something we all need to hear regularly – like making a child eat his vegetables – but this is some mediocre movie making, IMO. Droll shaky cam when it wasn't needed, molasses pacing, I found myself often waiting at the end of a scene for the movie makers to catch up. This could have been a great little movie, if only... if only they had been great movie makers.

[Don't read this if you haven't seen it yet. Come back after. It won't spoil the movie, but I don't want to influence your opinion on the subject before the fact.] It was fascinating how they provided the overtone “USA” at the end, letting its meaning resonate in the viewer without being explicitly negative. But then again, what else could it be in the context of a Middle East war? Kind of a cowardly movie in general, but that specifically. That scene should have been in the first act, if at all, instead of a little pot-shot at the end.

Important subject, but mediocre execution, IMO. Without the cute little kids, this movie would be a 6/10, but they pulled it up to a moderate 7/10 for me.

Best Foreign Language Film Nominations – current IMDb rating – Country:
- Embrace of the Serpent (2015) – 8.2 – Columbia
- Son of Saul (2015) – 7.9 – Hungary
- Mustang (2015) – 7.6 – France [via Turkey]
- Theeb (2014) – 7.5 – Jordan [via UAE]
- A War (2015) – 7.4 – Denmark

Those 5 made the cut out of 81 submissions. (http://www.ew.com/article/2015/10/08/oscars-foreign-language-submissions)