When you think of war movies, what do you think of? Is it the bravery of the warriors, the fierce fighting, or the sincere friendship between men? Is it the iron and blood of the military, the ambition of justice, or the patriotic pride that permeates the whole body?
But the war movie I'm introducing now--Russian "The Ninth Commando" (also translated "The Ninth Company")--can give you a completely different look and feel.
The director of this film is Bondarchuk, the son of Bondarchuk, a Soviet filmmaker known to the older generation in our country. It's really a tiger father without a dog.
The film has no deliberate negative energy, nor the superficiality of ordinary commercial action films, but only shocking truth. It is full of exposure, criticism and reflection on the war and the social status quo behind it. calm.
The film is about the Soviet-Afghan war in the 1980s. In 1979, the Soviet Union suddenly invaded Afghanistan because of ideological confrontation and the long-cherished wish to gain access to the Indian Ocean. They thought that they could win quickly by relying on the power of one of the world's two poles, but it backfired. Not only did it cost a lot of military spending and soldiers' lives, but its international status also plummeted. The Moscow Olympic Games hosted in 1980 encountered unanimous resistance from many countries, including China, because the Soviet Union's war behavior violated the core of the Olympic spirit and the pursuit of peace. The tears of Misha, the mascot bear at the closing ceremony of the Olympic Games, are regarded as an important symbol of the Soviet Union's transition from prosperity to decline.
In the blink of an eye, nine years have passed, and the battle is still stalemate. The film begins from here, describing the whole process of a group of young Soviet men from enlistment to the death of the war.
From the very beginning of the film, it presents us with an abnormal atmosphere: the recruits who enlist in the army are like horses with high hormones, and they are crazy to create all kinds of rude and outrageous deeds.
They don't know or care about the piety and sanctity of love and marriage, and instead talk smugly about obscene topics related to sex.
They shaped the explosives the teacher used for demonstrations into the shape of penises in important weapons teaching classes and passed them around to each other.
Some of them robbed their comrades' letters from their comrades after drinking alcohol, causing old fists to confront each other.
What's more, in order to escape the pressure of training and death in battle, they even used the way of gathering at night to vent.
All these kinds of things can no longer be excused by reasons such as "young people are not deeply involved in the world", because they trampled on the most basic dignity and honor of soldiers, and it was the proof that the most powerful socialist country at that time was succeeded by a generation. .
Why is this happening? Things are below, and the root is always above. In addition to the social factors before enlistment and the lack of school and family education, the standardized management of the army also bears considerable responsibility. The defeat in the battle and the low morale put the Soviet army under great pressure from officers to veterans. They had to conduct very inhumane bullying on recruits to establish authority and relieve anxiety.
Its representative is the training instructor of the recruits. Because of his disfigurement and repeated applications to return to the front line, his mind was twisted and turned into a sadistic pervert.
Not only do they beat or scold the recruits during training, but they do everything they can to insult their dignity;
They even incited good-friend soldiers to fight each other, using this fascist method to exercise the so-called courage.
On the eve of the recruits' departure, when they needed a good rest the most, he couldn't control himself. After drinking too much, he ran into the dormitory to fight and shout, giving the soldiers an unforgettable farewell. Gift.
This instructor is the epitome of the Soviet soldier at that time. They are waging unjust wars, with too many resources, weapons, and a political system that is too rotten to admit it, and therefore unable to win for a long time. After their fanatical but vain beliefs have been burned out, they cannot become heroes who serve the country with courage and perseverance, nor can they become soldiers who escape from death, or even ruthless killing machines. Underneath the exterior, there is only weakness on the outside and on the outside.
The next step is to go to the front line. Only now do the protagonists and the audience know that the training base is only a small misery, and the battlefield in Afghanistan is the real hell.
As soon as they got off the plane, they witnessed a tragedy:
A veteran who was about to return to China found a fellow countryman among the recruits, and was very excited to give his personal things to him, and asked him to follow the same method and inherit it when he returned to China. The two embraced each other affectionately and said goodbye.
Before the heat was over, the plane the veteran was taking was hit by a rocket from the Afghan army, crashed and exploded, and no one survived.
In that airport, fighters, tanks, cannons, steel guns, dignified troops, and gleaming weapons were completely useless.
Many people, including the recruits, felt cold from the soles of their feet to the roots of their hair, because they seemed to have seen a kind of fate: we believe that we are strong, and we will not be able to return to our hometown.
When they arrived at the station, they were incorporated into the ninth company and began to face the cruelty and sadness of the war step by step:
To receive weapons, only dead men use broken machine guns;
The attack was blocked and the artillery had to be notified to complete the destruction of the target village, including the civilian population;
Supplies are exhausted, and we have to rob allies of supplies;
The new year is approaching, and the only entertainment is to drink and dance after listening to the bullshit speech of the supreme leader (dog: Who am I provoking!).
And the superior, the company commander of the ninth company is also a lunatic who screwed up his brain in the war.
Not only is he ruthless and mad, he relied on wasting ammunition at night to shoot each other with the enemy for fun;
Moreover, he was selfish and despicable. Before the battle, he ordered his subordinates to find matches for him to smoke. When the soldier came back, he mocked and scolded him in order to save his face in front of his superiors.
One soldier is bristling, and one will be bristling. With such a soldier, is the entire company any better? After all, this person is history. After we scolded him and vented our anger, we have to think about it. Who and what made him like that? Today, how to prevent such black sheep from coming back to life?
And death. There was initiative: a Soviet soldier ran into an Afghan soldier who was in the middle of the road. After all, the two had no grievances or hatred. After chatting for a while, they even smiled when they talked about their lovers. However, the Soviet soldier suddenly walked away. Shoot the opponent. Afterwards, there was neither the excitement of killing the enemy nor the joy of surviving on his face, only fear, shock, and confusion: both good people, how could they fight each other?
There are also passive ones: there was a Soviet recruit who was originally a top student in art. Although he was teased and criticized many times by his peers and superiors in the barracks, he still did not put down his brush. That was the hope of civilization in his heart. One day, he got up early and went to sketch, just when he was generous for the magnificent scenery of the foreign country, he happened to be attacked by the enemy. He was shot and killed only before he shouted the enemy attack, and only blood splattered on the drawing board.
What a young man, his love, his beauty. His enthusiasm lost its meaning in an instant, and he died desolately in a foreign country, killed in the name of justice by the owner of that beautiful river and mountain. Could this be the end he deserved?
There is also a Soviet recruit who has always been weak and can be bullied. He suddenly encountered an enemy attack. He roared and pulled away the grenade and perished with the enemy. At that time, there was no courage on his face, only panic. He was mentally tortured to the extreme. A liberating release.
At the end of World War II, the Japanese clamored for 100 million pieces of jade, but the defeat of the aggression could not be recovered. Between the two, who is stronger than the other?
And enemies. Although they are enemies, the film does not deliberately vilify the image of the Afghans. Instead, it expresses a certain identification with them through a small amount of ink, that is, they are not demons with green faces and fangs, bloodthirsty madmen, but Like the Soviet people, he is a respectable person who loves the motherland, is not afraid of sacrifice, is strong and brave, and has flesh and blood. They can devise ingenious ambushes, as well as make fearless charges. Even a child dares to take up a gun and shoot bullets of hatred at the aggressor.
In contrast, the fear and confusion of the Soviets are hard to hide. In addition to the soldier above who committed suicide, there was another soldier who bought matches for the officer. The blind old Afghan man, even though there was no threat to him, was still terrified.
The Americans say that the Korean War was a wrong war with the wrong enemy at the wrong time and place. In fact, why not the Soviet-Afghan war? The Soviet Union has faced the most formidable and tenacious opponent. The war of aggression is unjust, and the deformed internal affairs have caused the society to regress. Even if the soldiers are brave, how can they be invincible?
There is also the end of the movie, which is very ironic: the ninth company has been fighting for a long time with the enemy troops attacking the station, running out of ammunition and food, and when it is about to collapse, the reinforcements they have been waiting for finally arrive. Unexpectedly, the way of reinforcements was the heavy fire of armed helicopters, killing all the soldiers on both sides on the ground.
Afterwards, the only remaining Soviet soldier on the ground suppressed his grief and reported the battle situation to the officer who got off the plane. The other side told him: the war is over.
Is the war over? We didn't win, that's... lose.
But we obviously won, the ninth company and the enemy, even if the survivors are one to zero, the victory is still on our side!
The ninth consecutive win, but the motherland lost. So what's the point of me and my comrades-in-arms, our bravery, their disappearance? For a long time, the hardships we have suffered and the sins we have suffered for a long time!
The young soldier burst into tears. He didn't understand, and he didn't understand, so he finally retired from the army and returned to his hometown. Then less than a year later, due to a sudden deterioration in the economic and political situation (which had been worsening for years before), his homeland came crashing down and fell apart.
Then the true story of him and his team remains unknown day after day. Some people are actively creating forgetting, and some people are ignorantly embracing forgetting. It was not until the brave director exposed it that we knew like a dream: in that era when power was extended to patriotism, there were a group of innocent and passionate young people who were deliberately deceived by democracy, equality, freedom and fairness. What, became the cannon fodder and victim of fanatical politics, blood and fire buried their youth.
They have no time to mourn themselves, and later generations mourn.
Later generations mourn and learn from it, so that future generations will no longer mourn their descendants.
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