Films/DVD Asylum

Posted by mr grits (A) on September 24, 2010 at 20:51:41

This Russian film follows five new recruits through their basic training and their tour in Afghanistan. Their combat tour jumps months at a time and shows in an anecdotal way the trials and tribulations of the Russian "GI" in some of the most barren terrain possible. It is loosely based on the experiences of the real 9th Company near the end of the conflict.

In the training phase they were being briefed by a captain who gave them the skinny on the Muj and how they fought knowing that dying in battle sent them straight to heaven to receive whatever they lacked in life on earth including the obligatory women. He also instructed that it was forbidden to look upon the women or enter homes unless invited and that the same men who served them tea would shoot them in the back as soon as they crossed the village boundary. You get the sense that Russia had finally learned what a formidable enemy the Muj were especially when the captain emphasized that Afghanistan, in all of history, had never been conquered.

The script and cinematography was B-movie which was unfortunate. I presume the big money only goes for the "big name" directors and writers in the new country.

I really wouldn't recommend this unless it was a streamer.


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