Afghanistan and cinema: Rambo and James Bond fighting Afghan militants Taliban | Islamic Status | ARE

Because of these geopolitical contradictions of life, Islamic extremist insurgents Afghanistan They were once featured in cinema as goodies in cinema. It’s not long and any child or young person who grew up in the shadow of “Reagan theory” in the 1980s should remember it. At other times, the Cold War encouraged the United States to finance and fight the Afghan Mujahideen fighters against the military and the ideological expansion of their arch-rival, the Communist Soviet Union.

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Mujahideen, pioneers of the Afghan civil war Movement Taliban -The same is back today Accept They have also been accused of war crimes and human rights abuses in the coming struggle to establish a United States. But in the North American myths that reached us at the time, they were depicted as silk warriors, love warriors and patriots, and the thorny side of their fundamentalist religion was set aside, that God went against the law of stoning women or homosexuals.

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In Rambo III (Peter McDonald, 1988), for example, did not even make a reference to the interest in restoring Islamic law. Mujahideen means “those who engage in holy war.” The plot took place in 1988 John Rambo (Sylvester Stallone) arrives in Afghanistan to rescue his friend Coronal Trotman (Richard Grenna) Captive by the Soviets.

Along the way, he befriends the Mujahideen, who recalls a chilling proverb like poetry to the violent green beret: “May God save you from cobra, tiger hooves and revenge. Afghan”.

In 007: His Name Is Danger (1987), We saw a topper James Bond (Timothy DaltonLand in Sunny Afghanistan, one of his imperial adventures in the secret service of His Majesty. The British played their part in the country’s history of political violence, with its invasions in the 19th century, but it did not matter in the 1980s. Bond arrives and forms an alliance almost accidentally with the rebel leader Kamran Shah, By rescuing him from prison without knowing about his leadership in the Mujahideen militants. Then they went together for the Soviet Union, and as usual became cartoons of villains.

Less sketch line, British The beast of war(1988) Our Model of Konstantin Kowarchenko (Jason PatrickLike Lawrence of Arabia, as a Russian soldier, he is fascinated by the customs and ethics he thinks he sees in desert men. In the middle of their invasion campaign, in which they saw Soviet abuses, they decided to stay away and join the Mujahideen. With his help, they are able to capture the tank and capture its commander. But seeing the brutality with which the militants killed his former boss, he decides to leave the Mujahideen and return home.

To fully understand the US-funded event for Afghan extremists in the 1980s, you can review the image Charlie Wilson’s War (2007), last filmed by a filmmaker Mike Nichols. There Tom Hanks He plays an American politician who started a program to support and finance Afghan rebel fighters, with the help of a rogue CIA agent. The support budget with them rose from $ 5 million to $ 500 million at the time. Only in the end, this character reflects what the state of the country will be after the extremists of religion come to power.

There are other representations of Afghanistan in the cinema, the NATO invasion of that country started from the twin towers and the war without quarters Osama bin Laden. You can cite war tapes and spy cases Zero Dark Thirty (Katherine Bigelow), in the last days of Osama bin Laden, The last survivor (2013), with Mark Wahlberg, About a force to capture the Taliban leader, to no avail. Robert Redford, For his part, he makes an acidic critique of the indifference created by North American society to the occupation and social problems in Afghanistan. Lions for lambs (2013). Most recently, the Russo brothers, who are famous for their superhero movies, criticized the aftermath of the depression of a former Afghan fighter in Cherry. Cherry (2021)

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