Even the Russians Can Make a Movie About Their Afghan War – But We Can’t Make One About Our Own

By Jason Apuzzo. The ironies on display here are too much. Recently I came across this award-winning Russian film called 9th Company, which is essentially about the late stages of the Russian war in Afghanistan. You can watch the trailer for the film above; the film’s just coming to DVD and Blu-ray right now, although it actually dates from 2005.

The Russian invasion of Afghanistan was a brutal and sadistic affair all the way around. What’s so striking to me, though, is that even the Russians have apparently been able to muster sufficient national pride in the valor of their soldiers to make this relatively large-scale film about their experiences in Afghanistan.

And what do we get here in America from Hollywood about our own Afghan war? The ostensibly ‘just’ war (in contrast to Iraq, so the story goes)? We get nothing.

As I mentioned in my recent post on the new Aussie film Tomorrow When the War Began, the climate here in the United States for freedom-oriented filmmaking is really lousy. Here we have a situation in which the biggest DVD release of a war film set in Afghanistan is being provided to us by the Russians. Perhaps we should import some of their politicians, while we’re at it. I’m no longer sure it would make much difference.

And by the way, you know how I found out about this film? They were advertising on Harry Knowles’ site(!). What a country we’re living in.

Posted on September 2nd, 2010 at 1:38pm.

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Jason Apuzzo

Jason Apuzzo is co-Editor of Libertas Film Magazine.

4 thoughts on “Even the Russians Can Make a Movie About Their Afghan War – But We Can’t Make One About Our Own”

  1. Pingback: Tweets that mention Even the Russians Can Make a Movie About Their Afghan War – But We Can’t » LFM: Libertas Film Magazine -- Topsy.com

  2. How ironic indeed. The war in Afghanistan was the Russian’s Vietnam, and yet even they find aspects of it to take pride in. The war in Afghanistan hasn’t had nearly as much of a cost in lives for America as it did for Russia, and features many amazing stories of heroism, but the jerks who run Hollywood hate America so much that they have to pretend it isn’t happening.

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