Culture news A dismal failure at the cinema, this 36-year-old war film is a masterpiece: it is one of the 10 best ever made
Published on 06/17/2024 at 1:25 p.m.
Share :
There are many war films in cinema, but many of them take place during the Second World War or the Vietnam War. Two traumatic conflicts, which have permeated American cinema. However, one of the best works of the genre was a resounding failure at the box office.
If we think to war films, many feature films can come to mind. Of longest day has Apocalypse Now Passing by Inglorious Basterds, Platoon, Rambo III or Dunkirk, La Grande Vadrouille And We must save soldier Rayan, the conflicts have largely inspired the filmmakers. The most depicted conflicts on the big screen are World War II and the Vietnam War, followed by the Gulf War, World War I and the Second Iraq War. The award-winning films are legion, but many productions have gone completely unnoticed.
This is the case with this film signed Kevin Reynolds, director strongly linked to the infernal production of the film Waterworld. In 1988, the director shot The Beast (The Beast of War), a work taking as its framework the second Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. The action of the film takes place in 1981, when Moscow sends the Red Army to maintain a pro-communist government in the region and fight the Mudhahiddin resistance fighters. Speaking of the fascination with war while being one of the rare feature films using the invasion of the USSR in Afghanistan, The Beast had everything going for him.
A bitter failure, but a long-term recognition
The action begins with the presentation of a squadron of T-55 tanks, which are heading towards a Patchoune village, previously bombed. The latter massacres the inhabitants before leaving and then getting lost in the desert. Taj, played by Steven Bauer, finds that his entire family is dead and that he therefore inherits the status of village chief. He organizes revenge and sets off in pursuit of the tank lost, nicknamed The Beast. To protect himself, an Afghan communist member of the crew explains to his companions the concept of nanawatai.
By pronouncing this word integrated into the patchoune code of honor, anyone seeking refuge must obtain it, even from enemies. The rest of the film follows the journey of the lost crew as well as the rebels, with blurred lines and a story refusing any form of Manichaeism. A real gem, considered one of the 10 best war films ever produced in the dedicated ranking produced by AlloCiné. However, almost no one saw it at the time. Totally eclipsed by Rambo III released the same year, The Beast only generated $161,004 for a budget of $8 million. A terrible failure, which rebounded in 1991 with Robin Hood, Prince of Thieves then Rapa Nui.
