History Film / TheBeastOfWar

* LastSundayAD: Released in 1988, ''The Beast'' is set in 1981.

* DirtyCommunists: The tank crew aren't especially political (except Daskal, who began his career as an eight year old fighting in UsefulNotes/WorldWarII and totally believes Soviet propaganda), but they clearly live in a fearful state of screwing up and suffering some Soviet punishment, which only drives them to turn on each other rather than unite as the situation gets worse.

* ShownTheirWork: The overall depiction of the Soviet-Afghan War is reasonably accurate, showing good and bad on both sides, featuring an ANA soldier who is a PDPA communist party member as a sympathetic character, and exploring both the fractious nature of Pashtun tribal culture and the importance of the ''Pashtunwali'' code.

* TokenEnemyMinority: Samad is an Afghan who works with the Soviet tank crew against the mujahideen.

* TanksButNoTanks: The eponymous beast is in fact a Ti-67; a T-54/55 captured by Israel from Egypt or Syria, refitted with new armament, seats, optics et al., and pressed into Israeli service. Still, the T-55/Ti-67, designed for a four-man crew, is incredibly cramped inside, especially "buttoned-up" (all the hatches closed.) Cramming five men, the Soviets and Samad, in there is highly unrealistic. Kaminski would practically be sitting in Daskal's lap, and Golikov would never be able to load the main gun quickly and efficiently while sharing the space with Samad, even if they could fit both men in the loader's position at all.
* TankGoodness: ...But unlike many other movies, the only thing that makes the tank used and the tank depicted different are modifications. Israeli modifications aside, it's still a T-55.
* TechnicolorToxin: The gas grenades the crew deploy when their tank is swarmed produce a thick yellowish smoke that proves deadly to one unfortunate Afghan woman.
* TranslationConvention: The Russian tank crew speak (American) English, while the Afghans speak Pashtu with English subtitles.

* 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.