Plot
In 1981 Afghanistan, a Soviet T-55 tank unit attacks a Pashtun village harboring a group of mujahideen fighters. Within the village, the Soviet tankers proceed to burn, blow up, or poison any buildings left standing or water supplies. One Afghan manages to kill the crew of one of the T-55's with a Molotov cocktail. He is then crushed beneath the tracks of the ruthless commander Daskal. He does this in front of the Afghan women who plead for his life, and the driver, Konstantin Koverchenko, hesitates before being forced to go through with this act. The tank, having lost the ability to transmit on its radio, takes a wrong turn through a mountain pass and enters a blind valley. Taj returns to discover the village destroyed, and his father and brother killed—the latter by having been martyred by Daskal's tank. As the new khan following his brother's death, Taj is spurred to seek revenge and leads a band of mujahedeen fighters into the valley to pursue Daskal's tank, which they call "The Beast," counting on their captured RPG-7 anti-tank weapon to destroy it.
Lost and isolated, the tank crew set out to find Kandahar Road and return to Soviet lines. While momentarily halted to try and determine their location, they are attacked by Taj and his fellow rebels. The assault is unsuccessful, with Moustafa, Taj's westernized cousin, missing his shot with the RPG, and Taj's uncle being wounded. Taj and his uncle set out alone, following the tank's tracks. That night they meet a "Holy Man" who claims they will slay "Goliath" with a single stone. While camping for the night, Afghan communist crewman Samad educates the reluctant tank driver, Konstantin Koverchenko, about the Pashtun people's code of honor, Pashtunwali; particularly nanawatai, which requires that an enemy be given sanctuary if requested.
En route, the crew suffer several setbacks and ambushes from Taj's band, in which loader Golikov is wounded, their food and water ration are lost, and much ammunition is expended. Suspecting Samad to be a traitor after too many unfortunate coincidences (such as handling of a round which misfired), Daskal snaps after watching Samad go to pray, and murders him in front of his men; Koverchenko threatens to report Daskal. That night, Daskal explains his reasoning for murdering Samad as they drive through the river. When Koverchenko responds to his questioning of his service record with "I think for myself", Daskal goes into a rant where he reveals his service in WWII during the Battle of Stalingrad, at only 8 years old. The next day during a brief stop, Koverchenko states that the tank is breaking down; Daskal twists his words to make it sound as if he is suggesting surrender, and accuses him of mutiny. He orders gunner Kaminski and Golikov to tie him to a rock, and leave him with a grenade behind his head as a booby-trap for the mujahideen. Wild dogs eventually attack Koverchenko, but he is saved when the grenade rolls off the rock and explodes, scaring them away. Taj's band reunite with several vengeful women from the village and find Koverchenko, who pleads for nanawatai. While the women insist he be killed, they are overruled and the mujahedeen give him food and shelter. Koverchenko befriends Taj after fixing the broken RPG-7 and agrees to help them destroy the tank.
Meanwhile, the remaining tank crew come within viewing distance of Kandahar road, until they are stopped by a massive ravine that was not viewable on their damaged map. They are stuck in place after running out of fuel, until a Soviet helicopter appears and offers to rescue them. Daskal refuses the offer, has the tank refueled, and orders the helicopter to meet them at the pass with more fuel. The helicopter pilot says the pass is the only way out, finally revealing to Daskal that they are trapped in the valley. The crew heads back towards the narrow mountain pass where they entered, driving through the night and they find the helicopter crew dead the next day—they drank from a waterhole unaware that the tank crew had poisoned earlier with cyanide. Daskal spots the approaching Mujahedeen, and after engaging them with the main cannon, the crew is finally able to get the tank running again and they take off towards the pass. Moustafa and his rebels stay behind to plunder the helicopter.
The mujahedeen and Koverchenko catch up with the tank and pursue it through the pass, where Koverchenko uses the terrain to ensure the tank's inability to reach them. He finally fires the RPG after a tense chase, only to damage the tank's main gun. Just as it seems the tank will escape, the village women use explosives to blow up the cliff-side, dropping boulders onto the tank and knocking it off one of its tracks. Koverchenko sets fire to the tank's leaked fuel, forcing the crew to bail (not before Daskal tries to get Golikov and Kaminski to use grenades on themselves); he pleads nanawatai on their behalf, and Taj reluctantly agrees. Koverchenko confronts Daskal over his brutality, and declares he hopes that he lives to see the Soviets lose the war.
Kaminski, Golikov, and Daskal flee on foot. They come to the very same fork in the road which led them into the valley, and Daskal realizes that single turn is to blame for all that's happened. They are chased down by the village women, and Daskal, too weak to flee, is murdered; they bring back his bloodied uniform to Taj as a trophy. Horrified, Koverchenko waves down an arriving Soviet helicopter to be rescued. Koverchenko salutes Taj as he is hoisted by a harness, brandishing a jezail musket Taj had gifted to him. The film ends with Koverchenko flying off with the helicopter over the Afghan landscape.
Production
Filming
The film was shot in Israel. Several actual T-55 tanks were used in the film; however, the helicopter used in the film was not a real Mi-8, but an Aerospatiale SA.321 Super Frelon. The tank in question in the movie is actually an Israeli modification of a Soviet T-55 captured by the Israelis from their Arab armies, redesignated as the Ti-67 and fitted with a 105mm main gun in place of the original 100mm gun, leading some[who?] to mistake it for a T-62. The Ti-67 tank in particular is more distinctly known as the Tiran 5Sh.[2] Many of these conversions were used by the Israelis during the 1973 Yom Kippur War. The film's military advisor, Dale Dye, has written that he negotiated the purchase of the tanks over drinks with Israel Defense Forces officers in a Tel Aviv hotel.[3] The language spoken by the Afghan characters is Pashto. The Pashto dialogue is subtitled but some television screenings have omitted the subtitles.[citation needed]
Music
Soundtrack
The original soundtrack music was released by CBS/Columbia Records shortly after the movie's debut, written and performed entirely by Mark Isham. The back of the album suggests two tracks ("Badal" and "Nanawatai"), but there are, in fact, ten. Offered in 12-inch LP vinyl, CrO2 cassette and DDD-format compact discs. Used CD copies command rather high prices since limited numbers were released in spite of composer Mark Isham's celebrity status.
In addition to the soundtrack, the song Троллейбус ("Trolleybus") by the Russian rock band Kino is heard playing on the radio during a scene. However, Троллейбус was not released until 1983, two years after the events portrayed in the movie. The song was titled Streetcar Headed East in English-speaking countries.
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