The Beast of War
Encyclopedia
The Beast is a 1988 American war film
directed by Kevin Reynolds and based on a William Mastrosimone
play Nanawatai
. The plot concerns a Soviet
T-55
tank lost during the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan
. The movie has enjoyed a cult-favorite status in spite of its low box-office statistics.
:
In 1981 Afghanistan
, a Soviet tank unit viciously attacks a Pashtun
village harboring a group of mujahideen
fighters. Following the assault, one of the tanks, commanded by the ruthless Commander Daskal (George Dzundza
), gets separated from the unit and enters a blind valley. Taj (Steven Bauer
) returns to discover the village destroyed, his father killed and his brother martyred
by being crushed under the tank of the retreating Soviet forces. As the new khan
, following his brother's death, Taj is spurred to seek revenge by his cousin, the scavenger Mustafa - and together they lead a band of mujahideen fighters into the valley to pursue the separated tank, counting on their RPG-7
anti-tank weapon to destroy it.
The tank's crew is made up of four Soviets and an Afghan communist
soldier. As night falls and the crew sets up camp, the Afghan tank crewman Samad (Erick Avari
) educates the tank driver, Konstantin Koverchenko (Jason Patric
), about the fundamental principles of Pashtunwali
, the Pashtun people
's code of honour: milmastia (hospitality), badal (revenge), and nanawatai
, which requires even an enemy to be given sanctuary
if he asks. As the plot progresses, Commander Daskal (called "Tank Boy" during World War II
for destroying a number of German tanks
when he was a child soldier during the Battle of Stalingrad
) demonstrates his ruthlessness not only to the enemy, but also to his own men. He despises Samad for his ethnic association to the enemy and, after a couple attempts to kill him, finally gets his wish on the pretext of suspecting Samad of collaborating with the mujahadeen. After Koverchenko threatens to report Daskal for the killing, Daskal entraps him and orders Kaminski (Don Harvey
) and Golikov (Stephen Baldwin
) to tie him to a rock, with a grenade behind his head to serve as booby-trap for the mujahideen. Some wild dogs come upon him and as Koverchenko tries to kick at them, the grenade rolls down the rock and explodes, killing several dogs but leaving Konstantin unhurt. A group of women from the village, who had been trailing the mujahideen to offer their support, come across Koverchenko and begin to stone him, calling for his blood as revenge (badal). As the mujahideen approach, Koverchenko recalls the term nanawatai (sanctuary) and repeats it until Taj cuts him free, and allows him to follow their procession. That night, hidden in a cave, the fighters eat - and Taj asks Koverchenko in broken language if he will fix their broken RPG-7, and help them destroy the tank.
As the remaining three members of the tank crew begin to realize they are trapped in the valley, a Soviet helicopter appears and offers to rescue them. Daskal, caring more for his tank than his men, refuses the offer and simply refills the vehicle's oil and gasoline. They get their bearings from the helicopter pilot and head back into the narrow mountain pass from which they came, looking for the way out of the valley. Ironically, they later return to the water hole to cool the engines, and find the helicopter crew dead; they all had drunk from the small pool that the tank crew had poisoned with cyanide
earlier. The mujahideen and Koverchenko catch up with the tank crew, and a cat-and-mouse chase begins near the mountain pass, culminating in an opportunity for Koverchenko to disable the tank with the RPG. Konstantin fires as the tank is going out of range, but hits only the main gun. Just as it seems the tank will escape, an explosion set off by the village women in the cliffs above the tank sets boulders rolling onto it, disabling it at last. The tank crew is forced out and Koverchenko pleads nanawatai on their behalf. Taj reluctantly agrees. Konstantin tells Daskal that he wants him to live to see the Soviets lose the war, which is "no Stalingrad", and states that "It's hard to be a good soldier in a rotten war...how is it that we're the Nazis this time?" Kaminski and Golikov flee on foot, but Daskal is caught up with by the women, who carry out their revenge by stoning
him before taking his bloodied uniform and boots as trophies and being reprimanded by Taj for their barbaric and merciless act.
A Soviet search-and-rescue helicopter appears and despite the camaraderie that has developed between him and Taj, Konstantin goes with the helicopter. Taj orders his men not to fire on him as he is being hoisted up into the helicopter. Before being hoisted up, Koverchenko salutes Taj by holding an Afghan jezail
musket, which Taj gave to him earlier, above his head. The film ends with Koverchenko being hoisted up to the flying helicopter, flying away, the jezail still in his hand.
tanks were used in the film although 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 captured Soviet T-55, redesignated as the Ti-67 and fitted with a 105mm main gun
in place of the original 100mm gun
, leading some to mistake it for a T-62
. 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 Defence Force officers in a Tel Aviv
hotel. The language spoken by the Afghan characters is Pashto. The Pashto dialogue is subtitled but some television screenings have omitted the subtitles.
. The back of the album suggests two tracks, "Badal" and "Nanawatai", but there are in fact ten tracks. Offered in 12-inch LP vinyl, CrO2 cassette and DDD-format compact discs.
War film
War films are a film genre concerned with warfare, usually about naval, air or land battles, sometimes focusing instead on prisoners of war, covert operations, military training or other related subjects. At times war films focus on daily military or civilian life in wartime without depicting battles...
directed by Kevin Reynolds and based on a William Mastrosimone
William Mastrosimone
William Mastrosimone is an American playwright and screenwriter from Trenton, New Jersey. He attended high school at The Pennington School and received a graduate degree in playwrighting from Mason Gross School of the Arts, a part of Rutgers University....
play Nanawatai
Nanawatai
Nanawatai is a tenet of the Pashtunwali code of the Pashtun people. It allows a beleaguered person to enter the house of any other person and make a request of him which cannot be refused, even at the cost of the host's own life or fortune...
. The plot concerns a Soviet
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
T-55
T-55
The T-54 and T-55 tanks were a series of main battle tanks designed in the Soviet Union. The first T-54 prototype appeared in March 1945, just before the end of the Second World War. The T-54 entered full production in 1947 and became the main tank for armored units of the Soviet Army, armies of...
tank lost during the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan
Soviet war in Afghanistan
The Soviet war in Afghanistan was a nine-year conflict involving the Soviet Union, supporting the Marxist-Leninist government of the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan against the Afghan Mujahideen and foreign "Arab–Afghan" volunteers...
. The movie has enjoyed a cult-favorite status in spite of its low box-office statistics.
Plot
The film is prefaced with a quotation from the poem "The Young British Soldier" by Rudyard KiplingRudyard Kipling
Joseph Rudyard Kipling was an English poet, short-story writer, and novelist chiefly remembered for his celebration of British imperialism, tales and poems of British soldiers in India, and his tales for children. Kipling received the 1907 Nobel Prize for Literature...
:
When you're wounded an' left on Afghanistan's plains
An' the women come out to cut up your remains
Jus' roll to your rifle an' blow out your brains
An' go to your Gawd like a soldier.
In 1981 Afghanistan
Afghanistan
Afghanistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located in the centre of Asia, forming South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. With a population of about 29 million, it has an area of , making it the 42nd most populous and 41st largest nation in the world...
, a Soviet tank unit viciously attacks a Pashtun
Pashtun people
Pashtuns or Pathans , also known as ethnic Afghans , are an Eastern Iranic ethnic group with populations primarily between the Hindu Kush mountains in Afghanistan and the Indus River in Pakistan...
village harboring a group of mujahideen
Mujahideen
Mujahideen are Muslims who struggle in the path of God. The word is from the same Arabic triliteral as jihad .Mujahideen is also transliterated from Arabic as mujahedin, mujahedeen, mudžahedin, mudžahidin, mujahidīn, mujaheddīn and more.-Origin of the concept:The beginnings of Jihad are traced...
fighters. Following the assault, one of the tanks, commanded by the ruthless Commander Daskal (George Dzundza
George Dzundza
George Dzundza is an American television and film actor.-Personal life:Dzundza was born in Rosenheim, Germany, to a Ukrainian father and Polish mother who were forced into factory labour by the Nazis. He spent the first few years of his life in displaced persons camps with his parents and one...
), gets separated from the unit and enters a blind valley. Taj (Steven Bauer
Steven Bauer
Steven Bauer is a Cuban-American actor. He is known for his role as Manny Ribera in the 1983 film Scarface, and his role on the bilingual PBS show Que Pasa, USA.-Early life:...
) returns to discover the village destroyed, his father killed and his brother martyred
Istishhad
Istishhad means the act of or the seeking of martyrdom in Islam. In recent years the term has been said to "emphasize... heroism in the act of sacrifice" rather than "victimization," and has "developed... into a military and political strategy," often called "martyrdom operations". Istishhad...
by being crushed under the tank of the retreating Soviet forces. As the new khan
Khan (title)
Khan is an originally Altaic and subsequently Central Asian title for a sovereign or military ruler, widely used by medieval nomadic Turko-Mongol tribes living to the north of China. 'Khan' is also seen as a title in the Xianbei confederation for their chief between 283 and 289...
, following his brother's death, Taj is spurred to seek revenge by his cousin, the scavenger Mustafa - and together they lead a band of mujahideen fighters into the valley to pursue the separated tank, counting on their RPG-7
RPG-7
The RPG-7 is a widely-produced, portable, unguided, shoulder-launched, anti-tank rocket-propelled grenade launcher. Originally the RPG-7 and its predecessor, the RPG-2, were designed by the Soviet Union, and now manufactured by the Bazalt company...
anti-tank weapon to destroy it.
The tank's crew is made up of four Soviets and an Afghan communist
Democratic Republic of Afghanistan
The Democratic Republic of Afghanistan was a government of Afghanistan between 1978 and 1992. It was both ideologically close to and economically dependent on the Soviet Union, and was a major belligerent of the Afghan Civil War.- Saur Revolution :...
soldier. As night falls and the crew sets up camp, the Afghan tank crewman Samad (Erick Avari
Erick Avari
Erick Avari is an Indian American television, film and theater actor known for his roles in various science-fiction serial productions.-Early life:...
) educates the tank driver, Konstantin Koverchenko (Jason Patric
Jason Patric
Jason Patric is an American film, television and stage actor. He may be best-known for his roles in the films The Lost Boys, Sleepers, Your Friends & Neighbors, Narc, The Losers and Speed 2: Cruise Control. His father was actor/playwright Jason Miller...
), about the fundamental principles of Pashtunwali
Pashtunwali
Pashtunwali or Pakhtunwali is a non-written ethical code and traditional lifestyle which the indigenous Pashtun people from Afghanistan and Pakistan follow. Some in the Indian subcontinent refer to it as "Pathanwali". Its meaning may also be interpreted as "the way of the Pashtuns" or "the code of...
, the Pashtun people
Pashtun people
Pashtuns or Pathans , also known as ethnic Afghans , are an Eastern Iranic ethnic group with populations primarily between the Hindu Kush mountains in Afghanistan and the Indus River in Pakistan...
's code of honour: milmastia (hospitality), badal (revenge), and nanawatai
Nanawatai
Nanawatai is a tenet of the Pashtunwali code of the Pashtun people. It allows a beleaguered person to enter the house of any other person and make a request of him which cannot be refused, even at the cost of the host's own life or fortune...
, which requires even an enemy to be given sanctuary
Sanctuary
A sanctuary is any place of safety. They may be categorized into human and non-human .- Religious sanctuary :A religious sanctuary can be a sacred place , or a consecrated area of a church or temple around its tabernacle or altar.- Sanctuary as a sacred place :#Sanctuary as a sacred place:#:In...
if he asks. As the plot progresses, Commander Daskal (called "Tank Boy" during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
for destroying a number of German tanks
Panzer
A Panzer is a German language word that, when used as a noun, means "tank". When it is used as an adjective, it means either tank or "armoured" .- Etymology :...
when he was a child soldier during the Battle of Stalingrad
Battle of Stalingrad
The Battle of Stalingrad was a major battle of World War II in which Nazi Germany and its allies fought the Soviet Union for control of the city of Stalingrad in southwestern Russia. The battle took place between 23 August 1942 and 2 February 1943...
) demonstrates his ruthlessness not only to the enemy, but also to his own men. He despises Samad for his ethnic association to the enemy and, after a couple attempts to kill him, finally gets his wish on the pretext of suspecting Samad of collaborating with the mujahadeen. After Koverchenko threatens to report Daskal for the killing, Daskal entraps him and orders Kaminski (Don Harvey
Don Patrick Harvey
Donald Patrick Harvey II is an American actor and voice actor, known as Don Harvey.He was born and raised in St. Clair Shores, Michigan, the sixth of eight children. He started acting in high school. He did several shows before graduating and moving on to the University of Michigan where he studied...
) and Golikov (Stephen Baldwin
Stephen Baldwin
Stephen Andrew Baldwin is an American actor, director, producer and author. One of the Baldwin brothers, he is known for his roles as William F. Cody in the western show The Young Riders and as Stuart in the movie Threesome...
) to tie him to a rock, with a grenade behind his head to serve as booby-trap for the mujahideen. Some wild dogs come upon him and as Koverchenko tries to kick at them, the grenade rolls down the rock and explodes, killing several dogs but leaving Konstantin unhurt. A group of women from the village, who had been trailing the mujahideen to offer their support, come across Koverchenko and begin to stone him, calling for his blood as revenge (badal). As the mujahideen approach, Koverchenko recalls the term nanawatai (sanctuary) and repeats it until Taj cuts him free, and allows him to follow their procession. That night, hidden in a cave, the fighters eat - and Taj asks Koverchenko in broken language if he will fix their broken RPG-7, and help them destroy the tank.
As the remaining three members of the tank crew begin to realize they are trapped in the valley, a Soviet helicopter appears and offers to rescue them. Daskal, caring more for his tank than his men, refuses the offer and simply refills the vehicle's oil and gasoline. They get their bearings from the helicopter pilot and head back into the narrow mountain pass from which they came, looking for the way out of the valley. Ironically, they later return to the water hole to cool the engines, and find the helicopter crew dead; they all had drunk from the small pool that the tank crew had poisoned with cyanide
Cyanide
A cyanide is a chemical compound that contains the cyano group, -C≡N, which consists of a carbon atom triple-bonded to a nitrogen atom. Cyanides most commonly refer to salts of the anion CN−. Most cyanides are highly toxic....
earlier. The mujahideen and Koverchenko catch up with the tank crew, and a cat-and-mouse chase begins near the mountain pass, culminating in an opportunity for Koverchenko to disable the tank with the RPG. Konstantin fires as the tank is going out of range, but hits only the main gun. Just as it seems the tank will escape, an explosion set off by the village women in the cliffs above the tank sets boulders rolling onto it, disabling it at last. The tank crew is forced out and Koverchenko pleads nanawatai on their behalf. Taj reluctantly agrees. Konstantin tells Daskal that he wants him to live to see the Soviets lose the war, which is "no Stalingrad", and states that "It's hard to be a good soldier in a rotten war...how is it that we're the Nazis this time?" Kaminski and Golikov flee on foot, but Daskal is caught up with by the women, who carry out their revenge by stoning
Stoning
Stoning, or lapidation, is a form of capital punishment whereby a group throws stones at a person until the person dies. No individual among the group can be identified as the one who kills the subject, yet everyone involved plainly bears some degree of moral culpability. This is in contrast to the...
him before taking his bloodied uniform and boots as trophies and being reprimanded by Taj for their barbaric and merciless act.
A Soviet search-and-rescue helicopter appears and despite the camaraderie that has developed between him and Taj, Konstantin goes with the helicopter. Taj orders his men not to fire on him as he is being hoisted up into the helicopter. Before being hoisted up, Koverchenko salutes Taj by holding an Afghan jezail
Jezail
The jezail was a simple, cost-efficient and often hand-made muzzle-loading long arm commonly used in British India, Central Asia and parts of the Middle East in the past.-Features:...
musket, which Taj gave to him earlier, above his head. The film ends with Koverchenko being hoisted up to the flying helicopter, flying away, the jezail still in his hand.
Production
Several actual T-55T-55
The T-54 and T-55 tanks were a series of main battle tanks designed in the Soviet Union. The first T-54 prototype appeared in March 1945, just before the end of the Second World War. The T-54 entered full production in 1947 and became the main tank for armored units of the Soviet Army, armies of...
tanks were used in the film although the helicopter used in the film was not a real Mi-8
Mil Mi-8
The Mil Mi-8 is a medium twin-turbine transport helicopter that can also act as a gunship. The Mi-8 is the world's most-produced helicopter, and is used by over 50 countries. Russia is the largest operator of the Mi-8/Mi-17 helicopter....
, but an Aerospatiale SA.321 Super Frelon. The tank in question in the movie is actually an Israeli modification of a captured Soviet T-55, redesignated as the Ti-67 and fitted with a 105mm main gun
Royal Ordnance L7
The Royal Ordnance L7 is the basic model of Britain's most successful tank gun. The L7 was a 105 mm L/52 rifled design intended for use in armoured fighting vehicles...
in place of the original 100mm gun
D-10 tank gun
The D-10 is a Soviet antitank gun developed in late World War II, and installed in tank destroyers and tanks. Versions of the 100 mm gun were installed on new T-55 tanks as late as 1979, and continue to be in active service in many countries.- History :...
, leading some to mistake it for a T-62
T-62
The T-62 is a Soviet main battle tank, a further development of the T-55. Its 115 mm gun was the first smoothbore tank gun in use.The T-62 was produced between 1961 and 1975. It became a standard tank in the Soviet arsenal, partly replacing the T-55, although that tank continued to be...
. Many of these conversions were used by the Israelis during the 1973 Yom Kippur War
Yom Kippur War
The Yom Kippur War, Ramadan War or October War , also known as the 1973 Arab-Israeli War and the Fourth Arab-Israeli War, was fought from October 6 to 25, 1973, between Israel and a coalition of Arab states led by Egypt and Syria...
. The film's military advisor, Dale Dye
Dale Dye
Dale Adam Dye is an American actor, presenter, businessman, and retired U.S. Marine captain who served in combat during the Vietnam War.-Early life & Marine service:...
, has written that he negotiated the purchase of the tanks over drinks with Israel Defence Force officers in a Tel Aviv
Tel Aviv
Tel Aviv , officially Tel Aviv-Yafo , is the second most populous city in Israel, with a population of 404,400 on a land area of . The city is located on the Israeli Mediterranean coastline in west-central Israel. It is the largest and most populous city in the metropolitan area of Gush Dan, with...
hotel. The language spoken by the Afghan characters is Pashto. The Pashto dialogue is subtitled but some television screenings have omitted the subtitles.
Soundtrack
The original soundtrack music was released by CBS/Columbia Records shortly after the movie's debut, written and performed entirely by Mark IshamMark Isham
Mark Isham is an American trumpeter, synthesist, and film composer. He works in a variety of genres, including jazz, electronic, and film.-Life and career:...
. The back of the album suggests two tracks, "Badal" and "Nanawatai", but there are in fact ten tracks. Offered in 12-inch LP vinyl, CrO2 cassette and DDD-format compact discs.