6/10
Not a good cross-section of Afghan war
19 February 2006
Just seen the film and having difficulty to determine its main message. It is not aiming to give a message? Eh... But its original name "the beast of war" itself is a message. Acting is good mainly for Russian characters. For me, the tank commander's acting is significant.

It is not hard to infer that screenplay writer is not well informed about Afghan war realities. Afghan mujahideen fought against a superpower with unlimited resources. And, it is an important detail, it would never be possible to have a victory with such stupidly described Afghan guerrillas, who are even without basic knowledge to use an anti-tank rocket. There had been a heroic war won by heroic mujahideen, and film should have been giving some samples of that.

By the way, Hollywood should hire some Islam consultants in order to get rid of silly practical mistakes about Islamic practices. In one scene, a collaborator Afghan originated Russian soldier begins praying, it is ridiculous that his practicing was full of ritual mistakes... Directors take care of such details...
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