George Dzundza, Jason Patric

During the war in Afghanistan a Soviet tank crew commanded by a tyrannical officer find themselves lost and in a struggle against a band of Mujahadeen guerrillas in the mountains. A unique look at the...( read more  read more... ) Soviet 'Vietnam' experience sympathetically told for both sides.

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78% liked it

3,711 ratings

R, 110 min.

Directed by: Kevin Reynolds

Release Date: September 16, 1988

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DVD Release Date: May 15, 2001

Stats: 196 reviews

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Flixster Reviews (196)


  • June 5, 2008
    a barren looking war film with some memorable scenes... such as the tank at the start using some afgan fellow as pavement. it's directed by kevin reynolds whos following project was robin hood: prince of thieves. there is no mercy in the flick which is refreshing in a way. it jus...( read more)t is what it is. it's about one russian tank being chased by some afghan rebels with a RPG. the russians have the archetypal lunatic commander who starts killing his own men due to paranoia. only one who gets left for dead gets picked up by the afghans and fixes the useless RPG for them. although it doesn't sound very much from the meager bones it is a pretty good war film thanks to its intensity and harshness
  • January 31, 2008
    An liberal conscript Russian soldier in Afghanistan suffers at the hands of an obsessive tyrannical commander. Later he is abandoned to the mercies of the pursuing Afghan rebels for refusing to execute a Muslim crewmate and learns to understand his erstwhile enemies, as they join...( read more) forces in a quest for vengeance. The Soviet occupation of Afghanistan is a rarely discussed topic in movies, and their campaign is often referred to as the "Russian Vietnam"; in fact the subject matter of a young crew lost in hostile territory combined with it's dreamlike atmosphere actually reminded me a little of a dusty Apocalypse Now. It's obvious where Reynolds' sympathies lie from the outset, as a small rural village is destroyed by Russian bombs and tanks, their well poisoned and women armed with rocks repelled with poison gas; this makes it ironic that the Russian crew are played by American actors which serves to remind us that it's actually THEIR soldiers who are subjugating the Afghans at the moment. The intelligent script also throws up some nice, uncontrived feeling moral retribution in the fact that Patric's character's attempts to learn about and understand his "enemies" proves to be his salvation, just as Dzundza's brutal and inhumane methods prove to be his undoing. Cleverly written, well played and some interesting subject matter make this an unusual and thoughtful war film.
  • November 8, 2007
    It's not currently fashionable to view Afghan rebels as heroes but this excellent and unusual war movie, one of the best of the 1980s, is still worth watching. A Soviet tank unit destroys an Afghan village and the constantly squabbling crew of the sole surviving tank attempt to e...( read more)scape vengeful Mujahadeen guerrillas. I watched The Archers' "49th Parallel" again recently and in that film and this the soldiers, sensibly, speak without a foreign accent. We know they're supposed to be Russian; the actors don't need to murder an accent to prove it.
  • October 16, 2006
    Good anti war movie about the Soviets in Afghanistan in the 80s. Ugly, bitter, unpredictable and very disturbing, especially in the beginning.
  • November 23, 2009
    It is a 1988 war film based the plot concerns a Soviet T-62 tank lost during the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. In 1981, a Soviet T-62 tank unit in Afghanistan destroys a Pashtun village, before one of the tanks commanded by the ruthless Commander Daskal (George Dzundza) gets se...( read more)parated from the unit, and enters a dead end valley. There he encounters local tribes who takes revenge for his war attrocities he had committed against them. Nice movie.
  • August 8, 2009
    Great movie.all time best...
  • July 9, 2009
    How much fuel do they have in that thing?
  • December 10, 2008
    no thanks not my kinda thing
  • November 11, 2008
    Really good film I watched on telly. Loved it.
  • June 25, 2008
    "Nanewatei!" (spelling?)

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  • alvacosta
    October 15, 2006
    Fabulous film, full of technical and psicological detail, still beautiful, thrilling and intense!...And made with such a small budget!

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