10 Best Indie Movies Of 2016 (So Far)

Rotten Tomatoes Score: 91%

A War (or Krigen, to give the film its original Danish title) was described as being among the best war movies of all time by Rotten Tomatoes Top Critic Peter Keough, which is quite an achievement when you consider that large chunks of the movie are closer to a courtroom drama.

The film follows a Danish military company stationed in Afghanistan who find themselves pinned down by the Taliban. In order to save his own life and the lives of his men, company commander Claus Pederson (Pilou Asbak) makes decision that his higher-ups at home in Denmark deem a war crime.

The film switches back and forth between the conflict and Pederson's house, where his wife struggles to cope with raising their three children in their father's absence. When the commander arrives home and is summoned to court, the two worlds (that is, life on the front line and life as a distant spectator) collide with sobering yet inconclusive consequences.

Director Tobias Lindholm chooses not to set his film in the black and white universe in which most war movies take place, instead employing a shades-of-grey approach. He examines the consequences of split-second decisions made in the heat of battle, and invites us to draw our own conclusions after putting up an argument for both sides. A War is not an easy film to watch, but it is more than worth the effort.