Product Description

Post-communist Russia's highest grossing film to date, 9TH COMPANY is a stirring and extremely timely modern day war movie on a par with Hollywood blockbusters 'Full Metal Jacket' and 'Platoon'. Based on real events, the film follows the ill-fated fortunes of a small group of young Russian soldiers, from the trials of boot camp to their arrival in the heart of the war zone and the climactic, bloody battle that made them heroes.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #5280 in DVD
• Released on: 2007-06-11
• Rating: Suitable for 15 years and over
• Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
• Formats: Anamorphic, Box set, Collector's Edition, PAL
• Original language: Russian
• Subtitled in: English
• Number of discs: 2
• Running time: 134 minutes

Synopsis
Based on real events, epic war movie 9TH COMPANY follows a group of Soviet soldiers from boot camp to fighting in Afghanistan and their battle against 400 Afghan rebels on the Djardan ‘3234’ Heights in January 1989. The 39 Soviet soldiers’ actions made them heroes in their home country. Featuring impressively realistic battle scenes, astounding cinematography, over 1,500 extras and enough military hardware to take a small country, the film is set on a grand scale. It also sheds new light on the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan, a conflict that had only previously seen through Western eyes in films such as RAMBO 3 and THE LIVING DAYLIGHTS.

Customer Reviews

The forgotten company
This film is based on the real life events of the elite "9th Company" during the final year of the Soviet conflict.

It begins, music led, somewhat unevenly at the training camp establishing the emotional and psychological ties between the young Soviet soldiers to be, and the viewer. The film definitely picks up pace and becomes absorbing viewing when it goes on to recount the shared loves and tribulation the individuals in Afghanistan. The scenes of the troops' dedication to their country and each other during their final heroic defence of the Height 3234 are gripping. The irony of fate has it that they are fighting a futile battle unaware the war had already ended. I won't give the plot away here.

The shots of the Afghanistan landscape are beautiful but to my taste there the deployment of colour filters was quite unnecessary. The film does captures the Russian view of life pretty well, even though it has US styled drama overtones.

There is a long line of films and books deploring the futility of war and the waste of young lives in their pursuit. Beginning with 'War and Peace' and 'All quiet on the Western Front' and the very recommendable Russian '100 Days Before the Command' this story joins that rank.

Bondarchuk may well land a trip to Hollywood with this film. I have given it a top rating, for a first film it is impressive. I highly recommend this movie - we are all human - and in the end the emotional chord linking us with those young Russian lives is alive.

In connection you may also wish to see these Russian films: The Star; Come and See

Still waiting for a good movie about the Soviet experience
The film is based on a real battle that took place early 1988, during the last large-scale Soviet military operation "Magistral". I was in the region myself along with the troops. In the movie, only one soldier from the company survives and the company is said to have been "forgotten" by the military command because of the Soviet withdrawal. But in reality, the story was different. The 9th Company, 345th Guards Airborne Regiment was pinned down under heavy fire on "Hill 3234" between 7 and 8 January 1988. They managed to stop several attacks by an estimated 250500 Mujahideen. The company lost only 6 men! Another 28 out of the total 39 were wounded. The unit was in constant communication with headquarters and got everything the regiment commander, Colonel Vostrotin, could provide in terms of ammunition, reinforcements, and helicopter evacuation of the wounded.
9th Company falls short of being an accurate account of the Soviet war in Afghanistan. It was perceived as a blockbuster movie with a lot of special effects and this goal was achieved. But Russian cinematography needs to revisit that war and create a real masterpiece, similar to those that appeared a decade after the end of the Vietnam war.

is Ok but don't expect much
This film tells the story of a group of Russian conscripts sent to a training camp before going to Afghanistan and fighting a battle on a hill top against huge numbers of Afghan insurgents

Do not expect to be blown away this is not Platoon , Full metal jacket or Saving private Ryan as it lacks the cinematography , the plot , the action scenes and most importantly the tension. The character development is rather poor and sometimes is difficult to tell who is who during the fighting scenes.

The details of the actual battle are wrong and without spoiling it for anyone if you want to find out what really happen read Battle for Hill 3234 in wikipedia.

The shooting locations in Finland Kazakhstanand Uzbekistan are spectacular but sadly the director does not take full advantage of them with any long shots.

A good thing about the film is that they use a lot of genuine Soviet military equipment and several Mil Mi 24 Helicopters, none of that cheap commercial helicopters with plastic parts attacked to them as featured in the Rambo series

As some one review has mentioned the action scenes are far too short and there is no continuation , the insurgents just walk very slowly in mass against the Russian machine guns shouting Allah is great and they all seems to have been shot from the very same spot.

The DVD extras are almost pointless the only interesting one is the feature called 20 years later , with interviews of the survivors of the battle

I do not understand why they did not release a cheaper single disc edition.

In summary an ok action movie don't expect Hollywood standards.Good for rental.