The Beast

Filmed on extraordinary desert locations in Israel, this superior war movie effortlessly fuses the moral complexity of scriptwriter William Mastrosimone's original stage play with the visual spectacle and narrative drive of a full-blown cinema feature. During the second year of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, a Soviet tank razes an Afghan village to the ground, before becoming lost in the aptly named Valley of the Jackal. Vengeful Afghan rebels track and circle the wounded beast, taking bites out of its tough metal hide in an effort to expose the soft flesh inside. The action is tough and gripping, while the quieter scenes explore the adversaries' contrasting, sometimes self-contradictory, attitudes towards the conflict. Mark Isham's spare electronic score is an added bonus.