L'étoile du soldat

I settled down to watch this movie yesterday because there was absolutely nothing else on cable that I hadn't seen already. I had checked the movie out of IMDb and found it was a French historical/war movie, which sounded vaguely promising. But I was caught totally by surprise when it turned out to be a movie set in Afghanistan.

The movie is based on a true story of a young Russian soldier captured by the mujahiddeen in the early 80s. Instead of killing him, they hold him and gradually he becomes one of them, living in caves, eating the same food, learning the language, even preying through the namaz. The French connection comes from a French journalist who is living among the mujahiddeen and filming the war. But the contact between the Russian and the Frenchman is brief.

The film has a very authentic feel and is beautifully shot in the mountains of Afhhanistan. In the version I saw, there was some narration in English, but the dialoges were in French and Afghani, with sub-titles. I'm so glad our cable channels in India are now showing such off-beat, unusual films.