Filmmaker Gulya Mirzoeva's fascinating documentary about the initial seed that spawned the current conflict engulfing the modern Middle East explores how the Soviet Union's blundering policy in Afghanistan—coupled with an equally inept American response—ignited the fuse that led to the explosion across the entire region. Sobering but also at times brutally funny, the film draws from Soviet-era files, archival footage, and interviews with participants (Russian military men and political figures, including Mikhail Gorbachev) to tell a story that very few know. It begins prior to 1979, when the Soviets enjoyed a good relationship with the Afghan government—a situation that was shattered when an “unauthorized” Communist coup wound up creating a chaos that led the highest Politburo leadership to intervene directly in 1979, after which the Carter administration supported the religiously-inspired resistance, turning the war into a quagmire for the Russians that was similar to what the U.S. experienced in Vietnam. And thus began the Islamic jihadist movement that now dominates much of the region. While one might quibble with a few things here—Gorbachev's recollections, while historically valuable, have a self-serving quality that goes unchallenged (he places blame for the decision to invade entirely on the largely incapacitated Leonid Brezhnev, KGB head Yuri Andropov, and Foreign Minister Andrei Gromyko), and American commentators single out Carter NSA Advisor Zbigniew Brzezinski, a rabid anti-Communist, for particular criticism—overall this is an enlightening documentary examining the roots of today's international turmoil. Highly recommended. Aud: C, P. (F. Swietek)
Afghanistan 1979: The War That Changed the World
(2014) 52 min. DVD: $348. Icarus Films. PPR. Closed captioned. Volume 32, Issue 1
Afghanistan 1979: The War That Changed the World
Star Ratings
As of March 2022, Video Librarian has changed from a four-star rating system to a five-star one. This change allows our reviewers to have a wider range of critical viewpoints, as well as to synchronize with Google’s rating structure. This change affects all reviews from March 2022 onwards. All reviews from before this period will still retain their original rating. Future film submissions will be considered our new 1-5 star criteria.
Order From Your Favorite Distributor Today: