Soviet war in Afghanistan in popular culture

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The Soviet War in Afghanistan had an important impact in popular culture in the West, due to its scope, and the great number of countries involved. The Russian film The 9th Company,^[1] for example, became a blockbuster in Russia earning millions of dollars and also representing a new trend in Russia in which some domestic films are "drawing Russian audiences away from Hollywood staples."^[2] Indeed, the use of the war in Russian cinema has attracted scholarly attention as well.^[3] Some of this attention focuses on comparisons of the conflict with other modern wars in Vietnam and Chechnya.^[4] Other work focuses the war and fictional accounts of it in the context of Soviet military culture.^[5] This article demonstrates the influence of the Soviet War in Aghanistan on popular culture by providing a list of the notable books and audio-visual media that concern this historically significant event. For a reference to responses to the Soviet invasion in Afghan popular culture, see "war rugs".

Contents 1 Non-Fiction books 2 Fiction books 3 Media and popular culture 4 References

[edit] Non-Fiction books

• Charlie Wilson's War: The Extraordinary Story of the Largest Covert Operation in History by Crile, George. Atlantic Monthly Press. 2003. ISBN 0871138549
• Ghost Wars:The Secret History of the CIA, Afghanistan, and Bin Laden, from the Soviet Invasion to September 10, 2001 by Steve Coll. Penguin (Non-Classics). 2004. ISBN 0143034669; ISBN-13 978-0143034667

[edit] Fiction books

• Vladimir Rybakov, The Afghans, Infinity Publishing, 2004. ISBN 0-7414-2296-4
• Khaled Hosseini, The Kite Runner, Riverhead Books, 2003. ISBN 1-57322-245-3
• Tom Clancy, The Cardinal of the Kremlin, G. P. Putman's Sons, 1988
• Ken Follett, Lie Down with Lions, Pan Publishers, 1998

[edit] Media and popular culture

• The Art of War project, dedicated to the soldiers of the recent wars, set up by the veterans of the Afghan war. Has Russian and English versions
• "Blood Type" is a protest song by the Russian rock band Kino concerning the Afghan War.
• "Guns for the Afghan Rebels" is a song by the English Oi! punk band Angelic Upstarts from their 1981 "2,000,000 voices" album, concerning the Soviet-Afghan war.
• Rambo III was an action movie with Sylvester Stallone set within the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.
• The Beast is a movie released in 1988 about the crew of a Soviet T-62 tank and their attempts to escape a hostile region, set during the invasion of Afghanistan in 1981.
• Afghan Breakdown (Afganskiy Izlom), the first in-depth movie about the war, produced jointly by Italy and the Soviet Union, in full cooperation with the Red Army, in 1991.
• The 1987 James Bond movie The Living Daylights, with Timothy Dalton as Bond, was fictionally set in Soviet-occupied Afghanistan.
• The 9th Company, the biggest Russian box office success to date.^[6] Based upon true events (but largely fictionalized too), it details the 9th Company being left behind as the Soviet Union withdrew from Afghanistan and was slaughtered before the withdrawing Soviets came to the rescue.^[7] Some versions available with subtitles.
• The Road to Kabul ("الطريق الى كابول") Arabic television series explored Arab youth participation in the Afghan war.
• Afgan is a documentary by Jeff B. Harmon about the war in Afghanistan shot from the Soviet side.
• Jihad is a documentary by Jeff B. Harmon about the Mujahideen fighting in Kandahar province.
• Afghantsi is a documentary by Peter Kosminsky about Soviet soldiers serving in Afghanistan.
• Charlie Wilson's War, the 2007 movie about the real-life Congressman Charlie Wilson and his relentless efforts to increase CIA support for the Afghan fighters. Tom Hanks plays the role of Congressman Wilson.
• The Kite Runner a multi-awarded film that showed the escape of a family to Pakistan during the start of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.
• The Truth About 9th Company is a first Russian documentary computer game dedicated to the Battle for Hill 3234.
• Peshavarskiy Vals, the 1994 movie by Timur Bekmambetov about uprising of Soviet war captives in Badaber training camp occurred in 26 April 1985.

[edit] References

1. ^ The 9th Company (Russian: «9 рота») is a Russian / Finnish film by Fyodor Bondarchuk about the Soviet war in Afghanistan released in 2005]
2. ^ "From Bitter Memories, A Russian Blockbuster Film About Soviet Defeat in Afghanistan Is Reminder Of U.S. Experience in Vietnam, Fighting in Chechnya" By Peter Finn, Washington Post Foreign Service (Thursday, October 20, 2005): A16.
3. ^ Elena Shulman, "Russian War Films: On the Cinema Front, 1914-2005 (review)," The Journal of Military History 71.3 (July 2007): 967-968. The article discusses how "The book begins with a discussion of films set in the context of World War I, the Russian Civil War, World War II, and the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan..."
4. ^ "The Literature of Vietnam and Afghanistan: Exploring War and Peace with Adolescents" by Francis E. Kazemek, The Alan Review 23.3 (Spring 1996).
5. ^ "A Glimpse into Soviet Military Culture" - "Review of The Military Uses of Literature: Fiction and the Armed Forces in the Soviet Union by Mark D. Van Ells on H-War (August, 1996).
6. ^ Afghan war film makes box office history in Russia
7. ^ "Russian film recalls 'shame' of Afghan war" By Peter Finn, The Washington Post (Saturday, October 22, 2005).