War Fun

The documentary film WAR FUN explores the deeply human, yet taboo, role that humor and joy can play in war. Based on the research project War and Fun: Reconceptualizing Warfare and Its Experience (WARFUN) at the Chr. Michelsen Institute in Bergen, the film follows Professor Antonio De Lauri and his team of researchers as they investigate the experience of war from the perspective of those who fight. The research project aims to bridge the gap between the narrative and the reality of war. By focusing on the everyday and emotional aspects of different types of wartime situations, the project challenges black-and-white perceptions of participation in war. In WAR FUN, we meet, among others, Afghan and Kurdish soldiers, as well as Norwegian soldiers who have served abroad. The film poses an uncomfortable question: Can having fun be part of what makes war possible? Like the research project it is based on, the film takes an anthropological look at the space where everyday life meets the total state of exception created by war. The result is a thought-provoking film about what war does to people – one that challenges established representations of war.