During the 1980s, Russia fought a disastrous war in Afghanistan. Shot by a Western crew, the 40 minute film includes footage of combat missions with the Spetsnaz elite units, helicopter gunship pilots from a Kabul-based Air Assault Unit flying missions, the patrolling of the Salang mountain pass and the military hospital in Kabul. Soviet General Lev Serebrov referred to the making of the film as "An experiment in glasnost".
Cinematography
Helicopter gunship footage so raw you feel the rotor wash
Direction
Harmon somehow got Spetsnaz to let him ride along — insane access
Production
Made during actual glasnost — Soviets showing their own failure
Director
Jeff B. Harmon
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
This dropped right as the Berlin Wall fell — Western audiences suddenly cared about Soviet military failure as schadenfreude.
Director Jeff B. Harmon spent years in war zones filming; this remains one of the only Western docs with active Spetsnaz cooperation.
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