This 36-year-old war film, a miserable box office failure, is a masterpiece: it is one of the 10 best ever made

News culture This 36-year-old war film, a miserable box office failure, is a masterpiece: it is one of the 10 best ever made

When we think to war films

many films come to mind. From longest day has Apocalypse now pass Inglourious Basterds, Platoon, Rambo III or Dunkirk, La Grande Vadrouille and We must save the soldier RayanThe conflicts have largely inspired filmmakers. The most commonly depicted conflicts on the big screen are the Second World War and the Vietnam Warfollowed by the Gulf War, the First World War and the Second Iraq War. The award-winning films are legion, but Many productions remained completely unnoticed.

This is the case with this film signed Kevin Reynolds, director closely associated with the hellish production of the film Water worldIn 1988, the director The beast (The Beast of War), a work that serves as a framework the second Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. The film’s action takes place in 1981, when Moscow sends the Red Army to maintain a pro-communist government in the region and fight Moudhahiddin’s resistance fighters. Speaking of fascination with the war in being one of the rare feature films about the USSR’s invasion of Afghanistan

, The beast had everything for himself.

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A bitter failure, but a long-term recognition

The action begins with the presentation of a squadron T-55 tanks heading towards a village in Patchoune were previously bombed. The latter massacres the inhabitants before leaving and then getting lost in the desert. Taj, played by Steven Bauer, finds that his entire family is dead and he therefore inherits the status of village chief. He organizes revenge and goes in search of the tank

lost, nicknamed The Beast. To protect himself, an Afghan communist crew member explains the concept Nanawaati.

By pronouncing this word, which is integrated into the code of honor of Patchoune, Anyone seeking refuge must find it, even from enemies. The rest of the film follows the journey of the lost crew and the rebels blurred lines and a history that rejects any form of ManichaeismA real gem, considered one of the 10 best war films of all time in the special AlloCiné ranking. However, almost nobody saw it at the time. Completely overshadowed by “Rambo III”, which was released the same year, “The Beast” only grossed $161,004 on a budget of $8 million. A terrible failure that was repeated in 1991 with Robin Hood, Prince of Thieves and Rapa Nui.