User Reviews

Before I give this impeccable Russian TV series a review.... it is important to take into account the actual true factual history of Russia in Afghanistan... let me bring you up to speed with some facts, without any opinions attached... Fact 1.. Former soviet Union had Islam as it's second most popular religion Fact 2.. The democratically elected government of Afghanistan were pro communist Fact 3.. there was an armed uprising against the democratically elected government Fact 4... Afghan Government asked for support from Soviet Russia, (which is incorrectly labelled as an invasion... they were there by invitation) Fact 4.. USA did not like Russia there and began funding weapons to the forces opposed to the democratically elected government Fact 5... USA funding the opposition caused the defeat and expulsion of Soviet forces Fact 6... after Soviet Union was expelled from Afghanistan, USA withdrew all promised future funding to Afghanistan for schools, hospitals etc.. and civil wars subsequently broke out overthrowing the democratically elected government and the Taliban took over.

I offer no opinions... just giving you the facts... you can go googling it for confirmation that what I share is true (I am a military historian)..

So now the review... This a very provoking TV series... Of course, as a Russian TV series it would be expected to offer some bias, but it does not. Surprisingly, the series focuses on the soldiers and not the politics. Politics are not even mentioned. It simply just shows the Russians facing a USA funded enemy and beginning to lose. It shows the relationships of soldiers as do many war themed movies and dramatizes the horrors of war. The acting is excellent. The cinematography is A1. Militarily, it is accurate. I think most westerners would fail to pick up the obvious demonstration this TV series shows of the emergence of the over zealous religious Taliban. Overall, I found it very entertaining and gives a very good perspective of the Russian concept of that war. Of course, it is not a factual historical documentary that you would reference in a thesis, but I would say that this is a movie you can by watching it, know it is at the very high end of accuracy and one that you could rely on to form your opinions of what happened in that war, and what happened after that war, and why 911 happened. I thoroughly recommend this to be viewed, particular by USA people.

This film delivers good action, and it makes you care about the characters. Production values are good. the script is well written, and the acting is good. This is a standard TV movie, it focuses on action, and it doesn't seek to provide some new insight into the war in Afghanistan. It repeats many of established cliches about the war, notably the idea that the army was willing to sacrifice men in order to achieve various objectives. This is something a lot of people object to, arguing it has no basis in reality and needlessly smears the army. All in all, I can warmly recommend this film. It is a good production.