« CartBrilliant Gem »

Saving Private Ivan

Sunday at the movies. Just finished watching THE 9TH COMPANY, a 2005 Russian/Finnish/Ukrainian-made Soviet-Afghan War flick. Great depiction of men in combat, sort of a Band of Comrades story set in 1988. It got two thumbscrews up from the Put-ster himself. Amazon’s synopsis and a little more of my own commentary follows, don’t click in if you don’t want to know what basically happens: 

The film follows a band of young recruits from a farewell ceremony with friends and family back home, through their often brutal training, up to a bloody battle on a mountain top in Afghanistan against the mujahideen. The film is based on events which took place in early 1988 during the last large-scale Soviet military operation “Magistral”. In the movie, only one soldier from the company survives and the company is said to have been “forgotten” by the military command because of the Soviet withdrawal, where as in reality the 9th company was in constant contact with HQ, was backed by artillery fire and lost only a handful of men. The film received a mixed reaction from the veterans of that war, who pointed to a number of inaccuracies, but nevertheless, judging by ticket sales, was embraced by the general public, and even by Russian President Vladimir Putin. It was also given the Golden Eagle Award for the Best Feature Film by the Russian Academy of Cinema Arts.

Politics takes a backseat.  No blah blah blah about what are we doing here, just some wry remarks at the end about wearing medals for a country that doesn’t exist any more. Maybe in 2005 Russia that’s an expression of Soviet nostalgia, I don’t know. Maybe that just wasn’t what the movie was about. I’m sure Putin appreciated the lack of disparagement of Soviet imperialism, though. I appreciated the fact that they stuck to the point, which was a depiction of men in extreme combat, without a lot of handwringing or fingerwagging. 

It is impossible to watch this without considering the experience of American, British, Australian and European soldiers now engaged in combat in Afghanistan, although the circumstances that brought them there and the overarching goals are entirely different, as are equipment, tactics and just about everything else. The only constant, I guess, is the enemy. The Soviet invasion of course has a lot to do with why we are there now, having tripped several sequences of events. But again, this is not a story about politics, but a story about combat.

The sentiment expressed as the end, “We won,” resonated.  Maybe, again, this is some kind of subtle shout-out to the Russky vets and their horrible, pointless, drawn-out conflict … pointless unless as an advocate of freedom, capitalism and democracy you appreciate what the Soviet Afghan War did to help bring down the Soviet Union. But on a basic grunt level, it rings true for the events depicted. A friend who was the last man standing in his platoon at the Ia Drang insists to this day his platoon was not overrun. He and his fellow soldiers held their ground and never stopped fighting, and he was still holding it, though badly wounded with his friends and a lot of NVA dead around him, when he was relieved in the morning. It is a point of pride for him.

One other remark. Judging by the horrific stories of a friend who was a Russian conscript in the post-Soviet era, the brutal treatment of enlisted men by officers and NCOs, while it is depicted, seems to have been played down a little.

Here’s a little more detail on the actual events that the film is based on, via Wikipedia:

The 9th Company, 345th Guards Airborne Regiment was pinned down under heavy fire on “Hill 3234″ between 7 and 8 January 1988. They managed to stop twelve attacks by an estimated 250−500 Mujahideen. The company lost 6 men. Another 28 out of the total 39 were wounded. Two of the killed soldiers were posthumously awarded the golden star of the Hero of the Soviet Union. The unit was in constant communication with headquarters and got everything the regimental commander, Colonel Valery Vostrotin, could provide in terms of ammunition, reinforcements, and helicopter evacuation of the wounded.

A Russky war flick I’d like to see is Shtrafbat, about a World War II punishment battalion. Unfortunately, it isn’t out with subtitles to my knowledge. Interested if anyone has seen it, or if anyone has any other Russkywood movie suggestions.

And here are some more: Band of Comrades.

Topics: Afghanistan, Russia

  Posted by Jules Crittenden at 1:42 pm on Sunday, June 21, 2009

Leave a Reply

Trackback URL

You must be logged in to post a comment.