9th Company [Blu-ray] [2005] [US Import]

The film is based on a real battle that took place early 1988, during the last large-scale Soviet military operation "Magistral". I was in the region myself along with the troops. 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. But in reality, the story was different. 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 several attacks by an estimated 250'500 Mujahideen. The company lost only 6 men! Another 28 out of the total 39 were wounded. The unit was in constant communication with headquarters and got everything the regiment commander, Colonel Vostrotin, could provide in terms of ammunition, reinforcements, and helicopter evacuation of the wounded.
9th Company falls short of being an accurate account of the Soviet war in Afghanistan. It was perceived as a blockbuster movie with a lot of special effects and this goal was achieved. But Russian cinematography needs to revisit that war and create a real masterpiece, similar to those that appeared a decade after the end of the Vietnam war.

I intended to watch half of this one evening and half the next, time being of the essence yesterday, but ended up going to bed extremely late feeling harrowed and humbled.

This is a truly superb film about a group of disparate soldiers brought together in a boot camp before going off to Afghanistan to take part in a holding of the heights, Djardan 3234. Based on true events, as these sort of films so often are, there is obviously some artistic licence taken but this really does not matter. What does is that "9th Company" portrays a little known conflict in very uncompromising terms. Forced to pay attention initially if only because it is subtitled you do not need to understand Russian to get inside the hearts and minds of the individuals and the acting is excellent. You have Giaconda, the artist soldier looking for the purity of experience; the boy from the streets who comes into his own more than you'd ever think; the traumatised Warrant Officer responsible for shaping them into soldiers and a host of others. The first half of the film concentrates on how they come together, their relationships and how they see life and the second - well, it has some of the most realistic, harrowing and upsetting battle scenes I have ever seen. It shows the conflict at such close quarters, and so realistically, I had to force myself to watch at points. The blood, the hand to hand, the desperation, fear, realisation of encroaching death and the utter futility.

The cinematography is beautifully done. The colours are rich and put you right there, in the action. It is also a very unpredictable film, perhaps because the Afghanistan conflict is so little portrayed on film, except for the Rambo types. There are even moments of pure beauty and pathos. My heart went out, for example, to Snow White and what she meant to the boys who passed through the boot camp. This is a world away from that. The most recent Rambo, highly praised (and rightly so) for it's far more realistic depiction of battle does not even begin to stack up against "9th Company". It is not a film I am likely to watch again for some time as it is not comfortable or easy viewing and I felt rather like the worst sort of voyeur. But I am glad I own it and it will come out again. Just not yet. If you are in any way a fan of war films then this is an absolute must see. Don't miss it.

This is the cinematic version of a real battle in Afghanistan just before the Soviet withdrawal. But the film starts earlier with an intake of conscripts who are trained by the traditional hard as nails NCO. Although the film shows the training and hazing as pretty tough I doubt it is anything like as tough as the reality. Once trained our chums go off to Afghanistan and fight through a number of typical actions (lots of soviet kit for tank fans) until the final battle.

Much of the interaction between the soldiers reminds me of L'Enemi Intime (they even have a Christmas party) but the combat is a bit Ramboesque rather than the standards of (say) Band of Brothers. The final attacks with the human wave seem to particularly annoy many viewers.