Plot
Young Soviet Army recruits are stuck in the bloody war in Afghanistan, that was started by politicians.
Release Year: 2005
Rating: 7.2/10 (8,276 voted)
Director:
Fyodor Bondarchuk
Stars: Artur Smolyaninov, Aleksey Chadov, Konstantin Kryukov
Storyline The film is based on a true story of the 9th company during the Soviet invasion in Afghanistan in the 1980's. Young Soviet Army recruits are sent from a boot camp into the middle of the war in Afghanistan. The action is not like a boot camp at all. It is very bloody and dirty. The 9th company is defending the hill 3234. They are hopelessly calling for help.
Opening Weekend: RUR 143,529,579
(Russia)
(2 October 2005)
Gross: $355,720
(Finland)
(30 March 2006)
Technical Specs
Runtime:
Did You Know?
Trivia:
Presidents of Ukraine and Uzbekistan extended their patronage over the production of the film.
Quotes:
[from trailer]
Hohol:
This is war! They don't put low grades here! They kill!
User Review
Common war movie, but still somehow unique
Rating: 8/10
Yes, we have all seen a lot of those movies that focus on soldiers in
the battle, their bravery, weaknesses, breakdowns etc. Those films are
always end up in a way that let's us know once again, how pointless is
war and how it has its impact to every single life separately. This
movie is not an exception in overall point of view. It has quite a same
morale.
But few things make it still unique and are the reason to rate it a bit
higher than just average.
At first reality. Not historically, but people in the movie are much
more real than in Hollywood movie. It seems that only Russian actors
can let the public see the soul of Russian people and soldiers. I'm not
Russian myself, but I've met a lot of them and this is just the unique
thing they call "Russkaja dusha" (Russian soul). Russians have very hot
temper, they can blaze up in a second and start the fight, but they
never let it damage their friendship.
Second dose of realism: people in war. I mean especially Dygalo was a
very realistic character. When I was serving my time in Estonian army I
met an officer who was also veteran of Afganistan war. And believe me,
he was quite a copy of Dygalo. It is hard to understand, how real war
experience could leave such a trace in human mind, but now when I saw
Praporshik Dygalo in that movie, I noticed a huge similarity between
Dygalo and that officer and I instantly understood that this is the
real thing, this is exactly how war affected those soldiers. And the
fact this film has managed to take it to public so real, gives it a
great bonus.
And last, but not least: Russian language in a movie that also really
sounds as Russian language. I'm always laughing about the episodes in
Hollywood movies that should include Russian army or characters and I
have to say that Russian language in Hollywood movies is more than
ridiculous, therefore I'm quite happy that this film was made in
Russian. By the way, Russian is considered to have the most developed
vocabulary in swearing and as this is war movie and those guys are
pretty rough as well, it sounds much better and more real in Russian.
Translation usually manages to lost at least half of the meaning.
In conclusion: yes, I would recommend this movie to everybody. Although
it shares the same morale than other war movies, it's still somehow
unique and especially Americans could take a look and compare it to
Hollywood stuff.
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