Review of Movies about Afghanistan

Christian Bleuer has wrote up an extensive review about movies produced about Afghanistan or set in Afghanistan. A very interesting and entertaining read. Read the article here on Afghanistan Analysts Network (AAN) December 23, 2014.

Movie - "The Beast"

I recently read a Tom Ricks review of the movie Fury starring Brad Pitt. Fury  is set in World War II and centers on a Sherman tank crew. Ricks says the movie Furey is fine and worth seeing . . . but keep your expectations in check. However, he does recommend viewing a film entitled The Beast  - a story about a Soviet T-62 tank crew that gets lost during an operation in Helmand province. The film was produced in 1988 just one year prior to the Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan and thirteen years before 9/11 and the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan. The Beast is available at Amazon.com. Wikipedia has a write up about The Beast. (SPOILER ALERT: The plot and outcome of the movie is revealed in the Wikipedia writeup!).

Movie Review - The Hornet's Nest

A recent review about The Hornet's Nest, a movie about U.S. military units serving in Afghanistan has been posted on the War on the Rocks blog. The movie, a documentary, follows the men and women of the 101st Airborne Division and 2nd Battalion, 8th Marines, during their deployment to Afghanistan. The movie was released to theaters in May 2014 and is now available at a number of outlets to include Amazon and others. You can read the movie review published on September 16, 2014 by David Mattingly here at this link.

"The Patrol" - A British Film Looking at the Afghan War

A former British officer who served in Afghanistan has written and directed an independent film about the realities of war for British troops in Afghanistan. The film is entitled "The Patrol". The director was not impressed with how the war was being prosecuted and felt that counter-insurgency was not being conducted properly. Read more in "The Patrol: a British look at modern warfare", The Telegraph, February 6, 2014.

Restrepo Documentary on Afghanistan Premieres on National Geographic Monday, November 29, 2010

The movie Restrepo premieres on National Geographic on Monday, November 29, 2010 at 9:00 pm EST.  The documentary follows one platoon for one year in a valley in Eastern Afghanistan.  The filmmakers are Sebastian Junger and Tim Hetherington.  The film was a Sundance Film Festival award winner.  A description of the film from the National Geographic website follows:

"The feature-length documentary chronicles the deployment of a platoon of U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan's Korengal Valley.  The movie focuses on a remote 15-man outpost, "Restrepo", named after a platoon medic who was killed in action.  It was considered one of the most dangerous postings in the U.S. military. This is an entirely experimental film: the cameras never leave the soldiers; there are no interviews with generals or diplomats.  The only goal is to make viewers feel as if they have just been through a 90-minute deployment.  This is war, full stop.  The conclusions are up to you".

Click here to see the National Geographic web page on Restrepo.  The movie can be ordered from Amazon.com at the following link - Restrepo.

The Black Tulip - A Review of a Movie set in Afghanistan

There are not that many movies made in Afghanistan.  "The Black Tulip" was recently premiered in Kabul, Afghanistan with mixed reactions from the Afghan attendees.  Read more in "Snickers Greet Premiere of Afghan Film", The New York Times, September 23, 2010.