MovieChat Forums > 9 rota (2005) Discussion > Not terrible, just rather over the top

Not terrible, just rather over the top

posted 17 years ago by maxdoherty
11 replies | jump to latest

I dissliked this film. Unfortunately others who have posted about their disslike of 9 rota attack it for the wrong reasons and dont seem to accept that there are some good things about it and that it dosnt deserve a 1/10.

To me, 9 rota dosn't really know what it wants to be. There is little in-depth mention of the politics of the Soviet-Afghan war which would be fine if the film had either highly developed characters or a strict adherance to accuracy of events.

Because 9 rota had none of these, it was not a decent drama or historical film. It is clear that the film is not trying to be just pure Rambo style entertainment either.

Ive never been in a war but I have a strong suspicion that the final battle scene was way over the top. Plenty of war movie cliches in this film that may have been impressive if it had been released before Platoon.

5/10
From UK

[–] fit_ov_fury 17 years ago

Parts of the final battle were just too Hollywood. Less slo-mo sequences running at the enemy with a massive machine gun would have been more palatable. Still I rated this film 9/10 because it I thought everything else was excellent.

[–] 17 years ago

[deleted]

[–] M_Peters 16 years ago

...9 rota dosn't really know what it wants to be.

You nailed it, OP; this movie is not only an incoherent mess, it's a farce; cliché after chliché, outrageously incompetent battle scenes (three dozen Mujahid fast-walking tall UPHILL into a Soviet stronghold of equipped w/ MGs and grenade launchers, in broad daylight... shooting distance between both parties about 50 meters, and actually chopping-up the Soviets real bad wtf), the tenderly score playing during the soldiers' basic training is so sore it's already surreal in a torturesome way.

Many, too many, missed chances: the beautiful landscape, the mystique of a largely unknown country, it's people, and their way of life; the already mentioned, nearly non-existant background on politics and conflict dynamics (the Colonel's short "Afghanistan for Duraks" presentation was at least a nice try); and not to forget the very diverse, but sadly unexplored cast of Soviets and their struggle in a world they don't understand.

It's not good weapons pr0n like Rambo IV, no intricate strategical or tactical study, and certainly no deep character study or a combination thereof. No passion, just barely mediocrity. Too bad.

1/5

[–] thependragon-1 15 years ago

I just finished watching it on FilmFour in the UK and wasn't quite sure what to make of it. There is some dazzling camera and visual work with the Afghan scenery and one particular shot of Russian copters which brought back memories of Coppola's Apocalypse Now. Perhaps that was the problem, that the Director was rather too inspired by American Vietnam movies and not so much by the true story of the 9th company. I was never bored by the film, thought the acting was fairly decent but I would agree the end battle sequence was almost foolish.

http://www.thependragon.co.uk/1000GreatestFilms.htm

[–] Warge 15 years ago

I agree with the OP - most war films seems to have some kind of subject wrapped into a cocoon of war, but 9th Company didn't have anything but is kind of ok for the moment.

Reading the trivia, I found out that the last battle was indeed over the top: the Russians lost six men out of 39, not an entire company.

However, I must say that if you want an insight into the Soviet war machine, this is golden. And I also happen to be one of those who thinks Russian hardware is very sexy, and there is plenty for us USSR-weaponphiliacs in this to enjoy.

A much better film about modern Russian wars would be House of Fools which I strongly recommend more than 9th company.

---
Top 5: Jaws, Shrek, Fucling Åmål, [Rec]. Add more if I find any top movies

[–] 15 years ago

[deleted]

[–] crazydave682000 14 years ago

The movie was okay, a different look at the war movie from the Soviet perspective- alot like "Platoon" including the music.
I was disappointed that they made a big deal how they were paratroopers but did not show them going through jump training. I went through Jump School at Ft. Benning back in '86 so I wanted to see how the Sov's did there Jump training.
There were a few gliches like when the troopers were moving in a mob instead of highly trained infantry - when they were heading to the village to save the trooper who went for matches.
Also, a small detail due to production costs (I suspect), all the Mujs were armed with AK74 like the Soviets, while in reality the Mujs were armed mainly with AK47/AKMs and even older bolt action rifles.
But it was entertaining.

Dave

[–] tempestnam 14 years ago

There's a big difference from Vietnam though.

In fact, in some of the promo stuff they pimp the "they were soldier who didn't want to be in this war" - Which is not really true. They were volunteers to go to Afghanistan.

Vietnam was draft service. A lot of those guys really didn't want to be there.

[–] crazydave682000 14 years ago

Were Soviet Airborne forces volunteers, like Western forces?

Dave

[–] tempestnam 14 years ago

Were Soviet Airborne forces volunteers, like Western forces?

In the movie, they specifically say they are volunteers.

Also in the movie, given a chance to serve out their posts elsewhere if they want to. Not sure how real that is, but it was portrayed as they had the option not to go and rather serve in another area of the Soviet Union.

[–] 14 years ago

[deleted]