The Beast
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Movie Reviews of The Beast
Movie Review: War as it is.
Summary: 5 Stars
I've watched this film 4 times. Each time it gets better and more relevant.
Outstanding performances by all cast members depicting the (mostly) realistic sadism of war. Many movies either glorify it (Pick a John Wayne war movie.) or make it an antiwar statement ("Johnny Got His Gun", "Paths of Glory". This one comes close to showing how war, realistically, can break one man (Dzundza), while driving another (Patric)[to turning against the people with whom he fights.
Admittedly, the tank has a dysfunctional crew, except for the Afghanistani member (whose fate shall not be disclosed in this missive) and he is suspect. Atrocities are, for the most, those that can be found in asymmetric warfare, although the water hole is stretching it.
Worth the watching for acting, technical direction, and scenery. A tightly knit, taut war drama that is all the more poignant due to the current U.S. involvement in Afghanistan and, finally, the attention being paid to the effects of combat on service personnel.
Well worth adding to your permanent collection.[ASIN:B00005AVZU The Beast]]
Movie Review: The BEST military movie I've ever watched...
Summary: 5 Stars
...and I've seen quite a few. This is a movie that encloses human drama within the reality and hardship of war. As far as action, it is cruel and realistic, just like the real thing. You can watch this movie over and over and still wonder how they could combine so much action with so much intelectual content. I bet you could sit an action fan and a movie critic and get completely different opinions afterwards. Both guys would be quite impressed by the picture. Technically it sticks to reality quite well. Weapons, aircraft and the tank (real Russian T-62)are fully operational, and actors seem to have received good training in all procedures. You really have to be an Afghan war vet to notice tiny small details like shells comming out of the turret, and projection of rocket explosions, which may not be accurate to the real thing, but, this movie is excellent!! More than excellent. The only reason why this movie could not make it to the top was its deep political message, which, in this millenium, will not be of any importance at all. Watch it... you will want to have it.Movie Review: A truly great film...
Summary: 5 Stars
Just to touch on a few points... Some critics complained because the tank crew (except the commander) talked like "American surfers..." Of course... that was the whole point...
There is no way that we can fully identify with the Afghans... thus subtitles... but the Russians are Europeans... and we have to be able to identify with Jason Patric... to see it all through his eyes... This was covered in a review in the Seattle Times... the day before its scheduled one day run in Seattle... My girlfriend and myself drove on badly iced roads to watch it in the theater... and it was well worth it...
The ending is stunning...
The producers needed a desert looking area... and Soviet equipment. Israel had both... My only quibble is the village women... They are pretty much all young and attractive... Soviet soldiers would have been defecting all over the place...
Would like to see the stage play on which this was based... Meanwhile... all of the CDs that I have seen are in full screen... ugh...
YP
Movie Review: More than just a thinking man's war movie...
Summary: 5 Stars
A very poignant and different war drama (the Soviet invasion in Afghanistan that started in 1979), that is actually based upon a stage play. The film succeeds in working om two levels, partly for the 'intellectual film lover' who tends to read more philosophical aspects about right and wrong into it and what it is to be a man in war, and partly for the 'impatient thriller-addict' who just wants an adrenalin-kick out of the movie...
The film is exciting from start to end and comes through as very realistic, and the acting is great -- by avoiding big name actors (no offense to the cast!), the focus is always on the characters rather than the actors (which is so often the case in many big Hollywood movies).
The desert enviroment comes across as both brutal and beautiful, and Mark Ishams suggestive film music fits perfectly. I don't think you'll be disappointed!
Movie Review: Afghanistan in 1981 or Iraq today, there is no difference
Summary: 5 Stars
Made in 1988, this movie tells a fascinating moral tale about a lost tank crew pursued relentlessy by the Mujahedin through Afghanistan's desert - but the film is most exceptional in its relevance to the US "war effort" in Iraq today, 2005. The lost Soviet tank crew of 1981 looks and behaves just like any American tank crew would look and behave in Iraq today - even down to the American accents. This excellent all-action film is probably the closest any armchair American will ever get to seeing the anarchic situation in Iraq today, as that country slides ever further into chaos, anarchy and decay. This is not an easy film to view but there is no doubt that the viewing is compelling and extremely relevant. Anyone who can watch this movie and then still talk about the "glory of war" and "preserving freedom" would have to be stark raving insane. MONTOYA