Afganskiy izlom

American war movie fans might be bored out of their skulls by this movie, but that boredom is born of ignorance. Guerrilla suppression operations are always like that. Sit around and wait, get some hookers, get drunk at the base, wheel and deal with the businessman, kick a prisoner around, cover up the killing of the street merchant by the green private. Then, boom, there goes two fuel trucks, and for 10 minutes a small-arms battle with one high-caliber machine gun. Then wait for brass to plan a way to knock out their stronghold, and then end up killing a few civilians in the process of doing it. If reality doesn't work for Western viewers, there's always Top Gun or Rambo (Top Gun realistic? nope)

The best part of Afganskiy Izlom's realism was the way all the planes dropped flares like confetti. They had to do that because Carter and Reagan gave the Mujahedin so many missiles. Also, the wave of Mi-24's was excellent, a better helo attack even than Apocalypse now. The sight of their missiles dropping and shooting was a scene of impending "death from above" for whoever they were aimed at.

It's funny how the Soviets were able to make an honest Afghanistan movie within a year after their departure, but it took the US six years. Afganskiy Izlom is just as real if you apply it to NATO's occupation too. Someone will always pick up the gun and shoot you cause they care more about the land. It's a movie Westerners should watch. Unfortunately I don't think anyone has ever made English subtitles; I might have to make some.

Well, the movie is basically about the last days of a specific Russian regiment stationed in Afghansitan, before the main troop withdrawal in 1985. The movie accurately portrays the grim realities of Russian army that have made it infamous: "dedovshina" (officers and NCOs physically harassing, beating and humiliating younger recruits), mixed character of war (you can trade with your enemy one day and kill him the next), life of women at the front lines, documentary footages of helicopter assaults, and coffins being soldered and sent home in heave C-130 Hercules class Russian cargo planes with tracer to jam Stinger missiles, fatigue, boredom, anti-war sentiment, emotional side simply put. The there's some action scenes, but they are poorly done, and often are illogical, like Major Bandura's suicidal walk and turning of his back to 10-year-old kid armed with AK-47 who's father he just killed. Also the fact that in the middle of firefight in the mountains heavy grenade launcher pops out of nowhere (and any half-bright person knows that it's virtually impossible to hump 40-50 lns launcher on the march anyone). But at the same time films shows that war is a dirty affair, where murder is sometimes condoned, wanton destruction of whole villages for little or no reason is normal, indiscriminate killing of civilians is overlooked as collateral damage inevitable during war... Some food for thought as to why Afghan war as lost.. Not the best war movie made, but profound and intelligent enough to be worth watching.

I would recommend this as the most successful attempt so far to make a movie on Soviet Afghan war. And it is very honest and responsible picture starting from small details of uniforms and weapons up to human relations, war routine and Central Asian landscapes. It's been shot in Tajikistan just after the the troop withdrawal which happened in 1989 not in 1985. The Italian star Mr. Placido was just perfect in the role of Major Bandura. Other characters looked also very natural especially always drunk club managing officer:-).The scenario seems a bit jammed in the end but it might be an impact of the Civil war in Tajikistan which had started right during the shooting of the film. All movie team had to escape sometimes even under fire. The last scene is purely "harakiri" type of behavior and reminded me the final phrase from one famous samurai movie - "We've won all battles but lost the war". It could be also a metaphor of USSR collapse - the great country allowing to shoot itself to the back by the small offended child.

I love American movies but when it comes about war movies Russians are the best to portray them. They show you the real side of war that you don't see in American movies like corruption, destroying villages and killing civilians.

Thanks for everyone who did that movie.

Hollywood needs to learn how to make like this movie.

My review was written in May 1991 after a Cannes Film Festival Market screening.

The Soviet withdrawal after nine years of war in Afghanistan is given a wacky pastiche treatment in "Afghan Breakdown". Downbeat pic has its darkly comic moments caused by dubbing virtually the entire picture into Italian.

Available in both tv mini-series and feature versions, pic shot in Turkistan and Leningrad, avoids the pretentiousness of such parallel world films as "The Beast", in which all-American actors played Russians and Afghanis. Instead, Michele Placido is almost the only Italian in sight, but the Ruso co-stars speak and even gesture in Italian.

He stoically walks through this role as a major sent by a cruel colonel on various missions to protect the Russian flank during the pullout. An air of gloom and defeat is sustained by helmer Vladimire Bortko. The Soviet involvement (never referred to explicitly as an invasion) is criticized heavily.

War horrors are treated here as a given rather than peculiar to the Afghan conflict. The career soldier's point-of-view and the problems of a dogface are both presented.

Several corny subplots, seemingly truncated in the feature version, fail to arouse much interest. Placido is carrying on with blonde nurse Tatiana Doghhileva, who is constantly being hit on by the sex-starved colonel. Several visually impressive battle scenes punctuate the talkfest. Glum finale is a downer, as intended.