Afghan Breakdown
| Afghan Breakdown (Афганский излом) |
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Russian DVD cover
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| Directed by | Vladimir Bortko |
| Produced by | Aleksandr Golutva |
| Written by | Leonid Bogachuk Aleksandr Chervinsky Mikhail Leshchinskiy Ada Petrova |
| Starring |
Michele Placido (Russian voice by Oleg Yankovsky) Mikhail Zhygalov Aleksei Serebryakov Yuri Kuznetsov Tatyana Dogileva Vladimir Yeryomin |
| Music by | Vladimir Dashkevich |
| Cinematography |
Valeri Fedosov Pavel Zasyadko |
| Edited by | Mauro Bonanni |
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Release date
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Running time
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140 minutes |
| Country |
Soviet Union Italy |
| Language | Russian, Italian |
Afghan Breakdown (Russian: Афганский излом, translit. Afganskiy Izlom) is a 1991 war drama film about the Soviet–Afghan War directed by Vladimir Bortko and co-produced by Italy and the Soviet Union (Lenfilm).Michele Placido plays the protagonist, Major Bandura, a commander of a unit of Soviet paratroopers, co-starring with several popular Soviet actors.
The movie is still regarded by many movie critics as the best account of the war, despite newer box-office hits such as The 9th Company. Director Vladimir Bortko invited Mikhail Leshchinskiy (a Soviet TV war reporter who worked in Afghanistan for 4.5 years) as a co-writer and visited Kabul and Kandahar in 1988 to research on the ground. Nevertheless, according to the Russian writer and the Afghan War veteran Alexei Kozlachkov, the film lacked reliability and was ridden with technical and ideological mistakes.
The events unfold just before the start of the Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan in 1988. Lieutenant Steklov, son of a high-ranking General, is assigned to Afghanistan, hoping to take part in combat and earn some medals before the war ends. Sgt. Arsionov (Aleksei Serebryakov) combines his combat experience and bravery with brutal hazing of young conscripts back on the field base. Major Bandura`s tour of duty has expired. He is free to go home and reunite with his wife whom he has almost forgot. This means leaving his mistress Katya (Tatyana Dogileva), a nurse in the base's hospital—to a much anticipation from Bandura's superior Leonid () who fell in love with Katya. Anxiety is felt by many characters about the change taking place back in the Soviet Union during the Perestroika. Bandura himself thinks he might not be able to adapt. Katya says that Afghanistan will be remembered as the best part of their lives.
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Wikipedia