History Film / TheBeastOfWar

* Gorn: Naturally for a 1980s war movie, but with additional emphasis on the mundane horror of war. The remains of someone deliberately crushed under tank treads is only momentarily seen, a dead woman is seen shot through the cheek with teeth visible, a few charred flamethrower'd corpses are lingered on, and said crushed man's ''hand'' is pulled out of the treads in its very own scene.

* EstablishingCharacterMoment: Private Koverchenko's first action unmasked in the village is rushing to a burning T-55 in an attempt to save the crew. [[StuffBlowingUp He fails]], but it contrasts in comparison to the destruction his other crew members did to the Afghan village, especially Kaminsky ignoring his burning comrades to brutally beat a man with the butt of his AKMS.
** Although, his first onscreen moment out of the tank, [[GasmaskMook but still in a mask]], is to hand a container of cyanide to Samad to poison a water well.

During the UsefulNotes/SovietInvasionOfAfghanistan, a T-55 tank becomes separated from the main body of the army after obliterating an Afghan village. Trapped in a dead-end valley and hunted by vengeful ''mujahideen'', the crew gradually turn on each other. The brutal tank commander Warrant Officer Daskal (George Dzundza) grows paranoid about their Afghan Army guide Samad (Erick Avari) and clashes with the independent-minded driver Konstantin Koverchenko (Jason Patric), with the gunner Kaminski and loader Golikov (Stephen Baldwin) caught in the middle.

* WarIsHell

* WaterSourceTampering: [[UsefulNotes/SovietInvasionOfAfghanistan the Soviet tank crew]] is shown emptying poison canisters into a well while attacking a village. Later on one of the ''mujahideen'' is killed when he drinks from a poisoned waterhole.
** The Soviets' poisoning of every water source they come across ends up biting them in the butt later, when [[spoiler:Soviet helicopter crew unknowingly drinks from a pond the tank crew [[HoistByHisOwnPetard had poured cyanide into earlier]] and all die before they can radio assistance for the stranded tank.]]
* WeAreStrugglingTogether:
** As they get lost and as the situation worsens, the tank crew turns on each other rather than unite and trust each other to get themselves back home.
** The ''mujahideen'' have elements of this too, but they're more effective in the long run. Taj and his cousin Moustafa detest each other, but they're willing to cooperate to take down the Russian tank.

** The ''mujahideen'' have elements of this too, but they're more effective in the long run. Taj and his cousin Moustafa detest eachother, but they're willing to cooperate to take down the Russian tank.