The Beast of War

"Well, sir, the roadwheel's cracked. Kaminski drank our brakes. We're low on petrol. The battery's low. We're losing oil. If the engine heats up it's gonna seize. The terrain, obviously against us. We have no rations. The Mujas behind us don't seem to run on rations, petrol, or anything we know of. And they have an RPG. Their aim is getting better. Sir. "

During the Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan, 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 muhajadeen the crew gradually turn on each other.

This film provides examples of:
""RPG... Kaboom... tank?"
 * Bilingual Dialogue - Sort of: The muhajadeen and the tank driver manage to improvise a patois around onomatopoeia and the names of weapons

"Da! RPG Kaboom tank!""

"Translator (in Pashtu): "Get out of here, woman. This one prefers bullets to words!"
 * Booby Trap - The Soviet tank crew leaves one of their own comrades tied to a rock with a grenade under his head. ("If you want anything, just nod.")
 * Chained to a Rock - The Russian protagonist is tied to a rock by his own comrades and booby-trapped for the Afghan rebels to find. When he's attacked by wild dogs and the grenade slips from under his head, some frantic wriggling is required to let the grenade roll out from under him, over the edge of the rock where it detonates (fortunately driving off the dogs). Convincing the Afghans not to cut the throat of this served up infidel is another matter.
 * Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan - the setting
 * Tanks, But No Tanks - 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.
 * Translation Convention - the Russian tank crew speak English, while the Afghans speak Pashtu with English subtitles
 * Tactful Translation - The Soviet tank commander orders a villager to be placed in front of his tank-track to encourage him to talk. His wife comes running up and is grabbed by the Afghan translator. I can't remember the exact words but it goes something like this:

Wife (struggling): "You dirty traitor, tell this Russian pig to let my husband go!"

Translator (in English (Russian)): "Sir, this woman respectfully requests you release her husband."

Tank Commander: "Ask him where the rebels are."

Villager: "Mujahadeen are all around you! They will kill every one of you!"

Translator: "He says he doesn't know."

The tank commander isn't fooled, and drives over the villager."

"Kaminski: You better watch your ass, Koverchenko. You know, sometimes Afghan snipers pick off tank drivers.
 * Unfriendly Fire - The tank commander kills an Afghan member of his crew, convinced he's working for the mujahadeen pursuing them. Also lampshaded between two crewmembers who don't like each other much.

Koverchenko: Sometimes tank drivers pick 'em off first, Kaminski."


 * You Owe Me - Subverted - A Soviet soldier knocks down an Afghan rebel pointing a jezail musket at a fellow soldier and says, "You owe me." The soldier doesn't bother telling him that the Afghan had actually pulled the trigger a moment before, but the weapon had misfired.
 * Water Source Tampering - the Soviet tank crew is shown emptying poison canisters into a well while attacking a village. Later on one of the mujahadeen is killed when he drinks from a poisoned well.
 * The Soviets' poisoning of every water source they come across ends up biting them in the butt later, as a Soviet helicopter crew unknowingly drinks from a pond the tank crew had poured cyanide into earlier and all die - before they can radio assistance for the stranded tank.