The Playwright, the Warlord and ‘The Beast’
- Si Biggs
- Aug 10, 2017
- 1 min read
The article below by Matthew Gault tells the amazing story of how play write William Mastrosimone traveled to Afghanistan from Pakistan to write a play that became a cult War Film.
On his journey he was courted by a ruthless WarLord, watched Soviet Tanks Ambushed, was left for dead on a Hindu Kush mountain side with a pistol to shoot himself. Then found by a small boy and rescued by a village, he survived and wrote a play that was made into one of my favourite films, almost dropped completely in favour of Rambo III, it has become a cult classic.
Original article - Matthew Gault - War is Boring - Dec 15, 2014
The Beast (The Beast of War) Movie 1988
A Soviet tank unit led by Commander Daskal (George Dzundza) destroys a village in Afghanistan in 1981. Taj (Steven Bauer), a member of the village, vows revenge and pursues him, along with the mujahideen.
Meanwhile, the radical Daskal turns violent against his unit when he murders the tank crewman (Erick Avari) for his Afghan ethnicity and leaves tank driver Koverchenko (Jason Patric) to be killed by the mujahideen. Taj, however, offers Koverchenko sanctuary for his assistance against the unit.
"The Young British Soldier" by Rudyard Kipling:
When you're wounded an' left on Afghanistan's plains An' the women come out to cut up your remains Jus' roll to your rifle an' blow out your brains An' go to your Gawd like a soldier.
