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Subject: 9 Company (film)
Yimmy    3/24/2008 12:14:13 AM
I saw this the other day, and was surprised at how good it was. I had only heard it in passing as a low budget Afghanistan film, but on watching it, the budget was obviously huge - with the amount of authentic kit shown. Some of the special effects were a bit dated (blue screen explosion stuff I guess), and some of the acting of the battle was a bit dubious with the whole Afghan human wave thing (for all I know that's how it played out) - but all in all I would well recommend it. It had some nice touches to detail you don't often see in films - for instance one Soviet soldier burning his hands on the barrel of a PK. It's basically the parallel of "FMJ" or "Platoon", only in the context of the Soviets in Afghanistan.
 
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Godofgamblers       3/24/2008 12:43:30 AM
It was a big event in Russia and re-opened the question of war veterns. Apparently based on a true story.....! A company assigned to 'protect' some hilltop in the vast expanses of Afghan, only to be forgotten by high command, and left to fend for themselves "ZULU DAWN" style.
 
The film reminds me a bit of FULL METAL JACKET: half of it is a training sequence, the other half action in Afghanistan.
 
We see the absurdity that the men have to deal with: issued non functioning weapons, given impossible mission objectives, and so on.
 
The acting is good and the action believable except near the end where the death throes of the company take on melodramaitc proportions.
 
Some of the characters are a bit weak: the training seargent was a bit too over the top, walking around slugging guys to teach them 'to expect the unexpected' and so on.... but we feel the helplessness of the recruits, being thrown into situations time and time again that they can not hope to handle.
 
Strange how the Russians waxed nostalgic over this film. There was much sympathy over the plight of Afghan veterns and a sort of yearning for 'the good old days' of the USSR, but no analysis over the folly of the war itself, no critique of the regime that brought about this state of affairs.
 
But all in all, a good film.
 
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ArtyEngineer       3/24/2008 1:45:25 AM
I picked it up myself only a few months ago having seen it in the 5.99 bargain bin.  I was quite impressed.  As yimmy stated the kit was all pretty authenitc.   
 
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Beryoza       3/24/2008 8:13:11 AM

I picked it up myself only a few months ago having seen it in the 5.99 bargain bin.  I was quite impressed.  As yimmy stated the kit was all pretty authenitc.   



I thought Afghanskiy Izlom was a hell of a lot better, the genuine footage of large-scale heliborne assaults being quite spectacular. The combat scenes during the convoy ambush left a lot to be desired, but they are certainly a lot better than the human wave attacks in 9th Company. Anything like that would have been shot to pieces by rifle fire alone, let alone PKs/mortars/Dushkas/Plamyas
 
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Nasty German Idiot       3/24/2008 8:37:16 AM
Any one of you seen the russian film "Pulgatory", playing in the grozny scenario 1994 ?   That was a real shocker, tanks getting the order  to "bury" fallen russian soldiers so that the chechens couldnt saw their heads off and display them ...   and lots and lots of heavy urban fighting.   Can only recommend it but its display of heavy violence is only for people who can really take it.
 
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Yimmy       3/24/2008 10:25:23 PM

Some of the characters are a bit weak: the training seargent was a bit too over the top, walking around slugging guys to teach them 'to expect the unexpected' and so on.... but we feel the helplessness of the recruits, being thrown into situations time and time again that they can not hope to handle.
I don't know that the acting was over the top to be honest.  It was certainly extreme, however the Soviet system of conscription does have something of a reputation for hazing.  Knowing that the conscripts were heading to Afghanistan, it is not fully unbelievable that the training Sgt would have been so hard on them - for their own good, to get them back alive.  I have read a number of accounts of Soviet soldiers dying through poor discipline, smoking on night ambush for example, and late in the conflict it would certainly be an aim of the training NCO's to stamp out such examples.
 
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Yimmy       3/24/2008 10:29:24 PM
 The combat scenes during the convoy ambush left a lot to be desired, but they are certainly a lot better than the human wave attacks in 9th Company. Anything like that would have been shot to pieces by rifle fire alone, let alone PKs/mortars/Dushkas/Plamyas
Again, as I said it seemed a tad unrealistic - but it could well have played out that way.  I have read recent accounts of British SAS training Afghan's in infantry tactics, with apparent success, only to have them to revert to charges on horseback and human wave assaults when contacted.
The Afghans consider themsevles to be natural warriors, and don't follow the same doctrine as European armies - they never have.
 
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