Watch The Beast of War For Free

I love this movie so much

Excellent but underrated film

I am only giving this movie a 1 for the great cast, though I can't imagine what any of them were thinking. This movie was horrible

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

so telling-if the Muhajadeen are fighting the Soviets, they are called "Freedom Fighters" when they fight us-(because we betrayed and abandoned them,) we call them "Terrorists" WE trained them either way;This film would never get made today. It has an oddly eerie atmosphere about itOne weird coincidence. Don Harvey played in this, and in a film called TANK GIRL (Tank Boy!)Oddly enough the DVDs of both were released the same Tuesday back in 1997This is a must for a 4k version on blue ray

"War is hell", as the old saying goes, and as long as has been possible, Hollywood has tried to show what war's really like, sometimes succeeding, other times not so. It's probably fair to say that only a select few war pictures really achieve the grittiness and ugly realism of war, and if you know your films, you probably know which ones ("Full Metal Jacket", Apocalypse Now", "Platoon" , etc.). Yet there is another picture that deserves to be included in this list, a film that although American made, tells a war story that is probably one of the most unlikely ones to be told on the American screen. The film is called "The Beast of War". Made in 1988, it tells the seemly simple story of a Soviet tank crew who gets lost in the middle of the unforgiving wilderness of Afghanistan during the Soviet invasion and bloody war that occurred there. Cut off from the rest of their forces, they are mercilessly pursued by a group of Mujahadeen fighters, or Afghan guerrillas, in revenge for a massacre carried out by the crew in their village, all shown in horrific, graphic detail that grabs the viewer in the opening. Leading the pack of the crew is the tyrannical and hard charging officer Daskal (George Dzundza in a terrific performance) a veteran who fought at Stalingrad and who is determined to maintain the honor of "the motherland". The soldiers below him, though, are far more likely thinking a question most soldiers in wars through out the ages have probably asked: Just what the hell are doing here? That's certainly the question being asked by the young soldier Konstantin (Jason Patric in another great performance), who slowly begins to become a thorn in Daskal's side with all his questioning, especially as Daskal grows more paranoid and unjustly distrustful of the crew's Afghan liaison officer Samad (wonderful character actor Erick Avari). Eventually, Konstantin is tied to a rock and left to the mercy of the savages by the increasingly unstable Daskal but unbeknownst to him, fate has other plans. But the movie doesn't just show the workings of the tank crew, it also intimately shows the Afghans who are following them, showcasing the conflicts of interest and power dynamics within their group, and their hunt for "the beast", as they call the tank. Leading them is their newly minted village chief, or Kahn, Taj (played by Steven Bauer of "Scarface" fame in a most convincing performance) who, like the Russians, is under pressure to uphold the values and expectations of his people. "The Beast" is probably one of the most unique war films ever made, in that here you have an American made movie that deals with a foreign war that we were not fighting in at the time - though we were giving significant support to various groups within the Afghan Mujahadeen - and one that was being fought by our arc rival at the time, the Russians or Soviets. And yet, somehow, the film transcends these barriers and under the superb direction of Kevin Reynolds, creates characters and a story that somehow seem universal from time to time or conflict to conflict. Even though the soldiers are Russian, the films is able to show them as soldiers that can be found in any army, be it here in the good old, US of A or anywhere else for that matter. Granted, part of this is due to the fact the guys speak American English rather than English with a Russian accent. But it somehow, it all just works. As for the actors playing the Afghans, everyone of them must be congratulated, not only acting wise for their individual characters but also for convincingly speaking the Pashto language, something that must have had its own challenges involved. "The Beast" truly is one of those rare films that manages to not only show the ugly reality of war and dark side of man but also something universal about humanity, human connections, and culture, all of it enhanced by Mark Isham's majestic and hauntingly beautiful music score. The Afghans fight for what their culture holds dear, as do the Russians. But the funny thing is, if race, ethnicity, or ideology didn't separate them, many of these characters might have made good friends. Sadly, though, "The Beast of War" is a movie that managed to fall through the cracks, perhaps because of the unique subject matter of the film, which is a shame, for as the United States tries to bend Afghanistan to its will and bring it into the modern age, "The Beast" is able to fully show the hopeless situation the Soviet Union found itself in, and why we, my fellow Americans, probably won't have much luck there either, when all is said and done. Funny how man fails to learn from the past, isn't it folks? For this and other reasons that I simply cannot put into words at the moment, "Beast of War" is a film that should be seen at least once in your life, not only because of its story but stellar acting, be it Patric, Don Harvey, or Steven Baldwin of the Baldwin brothers! Watch and observe, and ask yourselves was there ever a war that wasn't rotten? For my money, hell no!

War/history movie buffs, this is a treat. We follow a Russian tank crew after a ruthless but botched up slaughter of a village during the USSR invasion of Afghanistan (approx. 1985). Tank (t55) gets hit, no more radio, tank gets lost in the barrens vs mujahideen. As the crew of 5 struggles throughout the wastelands and belligerent natives, we witness the disintegration of doctrines while humanity takes the upper hand. Poised, beautiful and cruel, this is one of the most touching yet realistic war movies I have yet seen. Displaying unbelievable landscapes, excellent music and impressive acting, this film is as good as classics such as Paths of Glory, Platoon or Full Metal Jacket. One of the best yet unknown war movies there is, with a very profound humane message. Deserves more praises than it got.

The exact story, I don't know; but it goes something along the lines of: The Beast of War was played at theaters for a short while. The company that distributed it, if not the production company that produced it, went bankrupt, was bought out by I forget whom, then redistributed to theaters under the title The Beast. That's what happened.So, yes: the only thing that really takes away from Beast is that we have our Soviet tankers speaking with American accents. Look past that and you have a war movie on par with Hamburger Hill or even Saving Private Ryan. The message that this one sends, I'll venture to say, has a lot more to say than Ryan, but let's not start with the comparisons and contrasts. (Personally, I like Ryan a whole lot, but I also think it is a tad overrated.)With Beast, you have to keep in mind the German invasion of the Soviet Union in the 1940s, specifically the siege of Stalingrad, which saw the Russians taking a victory over the "undefeatable" German army. This time around, the tables are reversed, and it's the Russians who are the aggressors. (Honestly, I still don't know what pretext was used for Soviet Russia to invade Afghanistan. I should read about that.) Jason Patric plays Konstantin Koverchenko, driver of the tank crew which has taken a wrong turn into a valley that has only one way in and out. Soviet ideology and his proclivity to "think for himself," apparently, don't mix well, and so when he and his crew are doggedly pursued by a band of Mujahadeen, he is more and more disillusioned with the Soviet invasion.To make matters worse, his tank commander Daskal (played by George Dzundza from The Deer Hunter) is an ardent Soviet—but more so war hawk— and when a dispute over a fellow crew member, an Afghan communist patriot, ends with the murder of that crew member, whom Koverchenko endeavoured to protect from Daskal's irrational suspicion—when that happens, proverbial sh—— hits the proverbial fan. To make a long story short, Koverchenko shifts loyalty to the Mujahadeen, for whom he has sympathy and admiration.One Mujahid in particular—Taj—is played by Steven Bauer from Scarface and Traffic fame. I am not an expert on Arabic, but he seemed pretty damn convincing to me as a freedom fighter. We also have in the tank crew Stephen Baldwin in, perhaps, his best role apart from The Usual Suspects. We also have Don Harvey, who has been, and probably will always be, type-casted as the scumbag character. (If you do not know whom I speak of, he is the fellow from Creepshow 2, Casualties of War, Tank Girl, and why don't we include Die Hard 2 for extra measure? The only movie that I can think of right now where he doesn't play a scumbag is perhaps The Untouchables. You could put The Thin Red Line in there if you'd like, but it's such a small part that… well, I don't know.)In any case, what we have is a bunch of a character actors and one semi- starring actor taking on an ambitious project. The product is gold. Mark Isham's score is something of a highlight itself. Seriously, this movie is such a downer if you really think about it. (Mark Isham, by the way, also scored Crash. So-so movie, badass OST.) Dour, yes, and bittersweet, too. On top of that, The Beast has one of the best endings I've ever seen in my lifetime. I mean, it really stays with you.Zauber Zerão, die zauberkatze