9th Company

By Zentilack

Summary

A group of men enlist into the Soviet Army and are shipped off to Afghanistan during the closing year of the war.  The young men bond and grow into soldiers through hard work and sweat, but it is gunsmoke and blood that makes them the heroes of 9th Company.



What I Expected

I grew up in the 80's, so I was aware at the time of the mighty Soviet Union and of their invasion of Afghanistan.  What I was too young to understand was the nature of that particular war, and frankly, Western films rarely touch on the subject.  The only film I can think of where I saw even a sliver of the conflict was the James Bond film The Living Daylights, and that was hardly much of a help.  I was initially interested solely on the fact that this was specifically about that war, and a request that we do 9th Company led me to finally sit down and watch it.  Not being familiar with Russian cinema, I honestly wasn't sure what to expect in terms of quality, but I was hoping for a decent war movie.

Note: This film is Russian language with English subtitles.  I don't think there's an English dub, even on DVD/Blu-Ray.

The Bad

Too many characters.  I understand that the filmmakers were trying to tell the story of this group of men from recruitment to the famous Battle for Hill 3234.  I thought it was a good way to get the viewers invested in the characters.  The problem is that there are too many characters to get invested in.  By the halfway point I had given up on trying to figure out who most of these guys were, instead paying attention to the two men that I could readily identify.  Honestly, I couldn't tell some of them apart.  And no, I don't think they look the same.  I just couldn't match up any identifying character traits to the right guy.  If they'd focused on fewer characters with stronger, more distinct personalities, this could have been a strong storytelling device.

This is a personal nitpick, so take it for what it's worth: The character they call "Snow White" is something I could have done without.  Basically, she's a lady who hangs around the training camp and, well, gets around.  I kinda get the point of her, I guess.  She's supposed to be a boost to morale in the movie's logic.  Storytelling wise, she's a bonding experience.  The core group of guys sneak off to wherever she is and they all take turns with her.  She makes them more than comrades, she makes them brothers or whatever.  It's just, these guys are already bonding through the harsh trials of training.  Yes, there is a legitimate reason for her to be in the film, I guess, but the scene is just weird and, personally, I could have done without it.  (FYI, there's nudity here, if you care about that sort of thing).

Oh, there is this one ridiculous part early in the film where one of the main characters takes exception to a few verbal jabs from his barber.  Rather than simply getting his head buzzed by the man in uniform and go to boot camp, he jumps up, beats the dog out of the barber, and cuts the barber's hair off!  I was waiting for the hammer to drop on this guy, but when the barber brings what I assume are military police or something, they tell the barber to shut up and take it cause these guys are going to Afghanistan.  I could hardly have been more incredulous if I'd tried.  What the heck does that matter?  If I'd done that in boot camp they would have killed me and made my corpse do push-ups.  Maybe they did things different in the Soviet forces, but somehow I doubt that it was that different.  (Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong, though.)

The computer effects in this movie are pretty bad.  Fortunately, there was really only one place where they were extensively used.  Once they get to Afghanistan, the group witness a transport plane crash.  There's a point where the plane first explodes and an engine (complete with still spinning propeller) comes bouncing across the screen.  The engine is so obviously CGI that it hurt.  Worse, it was unneeded.  The next shot shows an actual fuselage with real pyrotechnics that look great.

Okay, so 9th Company is loosely based on real events, specifically the Battle of Hill 3234.  It was a fight between 39 Soviets and 200-250 Mujahideen.  It was a victory for the Soviets with 28 wounded and 6 dead.  It was a bitter victory, though, as the Soviets would end the war and pull out just over a month later.  I don't really want to spoil things for you, but suffice to say that the movie ending is not the same.  I honestly can't tell you just how much was changed (or straight up fabricated) with just my cursory examination, but I wonder.  I tend to prefer my "Based on a True Story" movies to stick a bit closer to the "True Story."  Still, I understand why they went the way they did from a storytelling standpoint and from trying to honor those who died over there.  Another minor point, I suppose.

The Good

Continuing on the point of the story, the viewer will instinctively make comparisons to many of the classic American movies about Vietnam.  Full Metal Jacket and Platoon are the ones that sprang to the forefront of my mind (and apparently everyone else's, having now looked at some other reviews).  Afghanistan gives a very 'Nam kind of feel in 9th Company, and you will certainly see a number of cliches as you watch.  Still, it didn't feel stale to me.  It did drag from time to time and there was the occasional "What was the point of that?" moment, but for the most part it engaged me and I felt a bit of sympathy for the men I, in my childhood, would have considered my adversaries.

Combat was fast paced and dirty.  There is no glamor and there is a sense of danger every time a battle breaks out.  At the same time, the film is not terribly graphic about its deaths, and thinking back I can't remember anything that I would consider particularly gory.  A lot of war films tend to make a lot of guys getting blown into several pieces, showing innards strewn about and everything.  You don't really see that here and, in my opinion, it looses nothing for going this route.

The scenery is both desolate and beautiful once they get to Afghanistan (obviously this wasn't actually filmed in Afghanistan, but it looks close enough).  There are so many great shots of the land they are in that you really get the feeling for how far these men are from the closest allied force.  Once they go out on mission, you get that impression of isolation in hostile territory.  The cinematography captures it well, allowing the rocky crags and valleys to almost be characters in and of themselves.  I really was impressed by this and it really brings home the fact that there is nothing to replace a real, live location to film on (as opposed to, say, adding the background in digitally).

The props and real, actual vehicles were awesome.  Period weapons, armored personnel carriers, trucks, aircraft, it all fit and made it feel like I was really watching Soviet forces and not just a bunch of Westerners pretending to be Soviets.  Let me give you an example: I mentioned The Living Daylights earlier.  Now, I really like that film, but they made me roll my eyes when the Soviets showed up there.  Bond winds up on a "Russian transport plane," but seeing as how actual Soviet aircraft were a bit scarce in the West during the Cold War, they just repainted a C-130 and said it was Russian.  This sort of thing was not uncommon, and even now it's hard to find movies that use legit Soviet hardware.

Seeing as how this is a Russian film, though, they were able to get all the stuff they needed.  I practically squeed when I saw the Mi-24 Hinds flying around.  There's just something about that big old gunship that makes you sit up and take notice.  To me, the Hind was, and still is, the most recognizable and cool of Soviet aircraft (just my opinion, mind you).  Incidentally, I'm not sure how often they had tanks rolling around Afghanistan, to be honest, but they don't show very many in the movie anyway, so no big deal.

The character I liked the most, believe it or not, was only in the film for around five minutes.  The Intelligence Officer was the man who briefs the main group of soldiers on what they can expect once they get into Afghanistan.  The guy is so calm, collected, and cold about how he explains everything that you get the feeling that he could kill the whole company single-handed if he so desired.  Even though he is, essentially, lecturing to them, he has a sort of subtle intensity and sense of danger about him that is hard to describe and keeps any possible boredom away.  When I was a kid, this guy is what I imagined KGB agents to be like.

As I noted earlier, the majority of the effects are practical ones.  Real pyrotechnics, real vehicles moving around, and real locations.  Seeing these guys walking along a flight line with helicopters flying past in the background gives a real, tactile sensation that sucks you into the film.  Indeed, most of the film is like that.  It's very gritty, with dirt and dust and sweat covering the characters throughout much of the story.  I know that there are a lot of elements that are ramped up for dramatic effect, but it feels real in its own way.

Overall Thoughts

Are there some problems with this movie?  Yeah, there's a few.  At two hours and twenty minutes, it really could have been slimmed down some.  Some elements seem almost as much propaganda as fact, but just about everything in this film probably happened at some point in the war, even if it didn't happen to the titular 9th Company.

Overall, this is a pretty solid flick.  It looks great, and the story is good, if a touch cliched in places.  If you've seen some of the standard Vietnam films, you'll see some similarities, but war movie fans will still find much to enjoy here.  If nothing else, this is one of the very few movies I've seen that tell a tale from the Soviet side.  If you can connect with one or two of the core group of characters, you'll have enough to involve you in the story through the rest of the film.

I give 9th Company a recommendation, though I would say rent it before buying unless you are a real fan of the genre.  You can find it on Instant Netflix.  Amazon carries the DVD and Blu-Ray for $13 and $17, respectively.

Note: There's a weird glitch in the Instant Netflix version at the 1:31:25 mark that causes it to repeat the previous minute and a half.  It only does this once so don't worry about it, just don't be totally confused like I was.