Inglorious Bastards 2 Hell Heroes

Posted In: Afganistan

Suanne Winik says...

This is an excellent work and is a must read for any serious student of Military Studies. Although some would point to his errors of spelling certain place names, this point was covered in the "Preface" to his work as the Author acknowledged the differences in opinion on correct spelling.

This book is highly readable history, comprehensive in its coverage and fair-minded in the way it is conveyed.



As a side bar, be sure to have a very good geographical map or maps of the area of Central Asia before you begin.



A must read



Dr. Terry Tucker

Combined Security Transition Command-Afganistan

Posted on September 9, 2011

Lewis Astarita says...

Tanner has written a exceedingly mistake-ridden book, his analysis is almost always bogged down in ever repeated stereotypes about Afghans and their history, and, to top it off, it (his analysis) almost always has little of substance. For the most part, he pays no in depth attention to new work in some of the fields he is traversing. And a list of his factual mistakes and inaccurate or outdated assumptions would be too long to write. But a few prominent mistakes and lacunae should be noted. On pg 8 he notes that in our time the term Afghan applies to all the ethnic groups of Afghanistan, such as Pashtuns and the various Turkic ethnic groups. He says that Tajiks are a Turkic group, a very basic error. Tajiks are technically grouped with the Pashtuns as a Indo-Iranian (in the sense used in linguistics and such) ethnic-linguistic group, and this is what makes them unique in the Turkic dominated Transoxiana, for they are remnants of Central Asia's former Indo-Iranian past, and the remnants of Persian culture. On pg 75 he states "In 632 the Prophet Mohammed (sic) ascended to heaven from Jerusalem, leaving behind a fanatical army of horseman to spread his message.", but there are two problems with this, namely, one, that Muslim belief states that Muhammad ascended to heaven from Jerusalem in the early part of the middle of his career, while he was still at Mecca, not after he died. Secondly, Muhammad did not leave a fanatical army at his death. The Islamic Arab army had to be created by the first four Caliphs, and they did not intend to spread Islam. The early Islamic conquests had little to do with Islam and a lot to do with conquest. They simply were not interested in converts, their attitude was quite tolerant towards other monotheistic faiths (churches serving as mosques on Friday's), there is no archeological evidence of great destruction of cities, and archeological evidence for the widespread growing of wine and the eating of pork long after the conquests were complete are enough to refute the notion that Islam spread quickly, and that it was spread by the sword. And anyway, Islam was an extremely porous entity in those early days, with no real consensus on ritual or theology. Also, "fireenga" literally means "without color", not foreigner. Mohammad Zia Ul Haq was a Punjabi, not a Pashtun. The Taliban is still alive and well. And Pashtunistan (or as they say in Pakistan, Puktunkhaw) is a issue that has lost its momentum, and few Pashtuns on the Pakistani side (or for that matter, the Afghan side) of the border would support a independent state for Pashtuns. Mistakes like these, and ignorance of contemporary scholarship isnormal for this book. This work is best suited for someone with no knowledge of Afghanistan, and someone who is willing to search for better sources later.

Posted on September 9, 2011

Danica Allford says...

Seems history in Afghanistan tends to repeat itself from time to time.First Alexander the Great tried to subdue the proud Iranian and Scythian warriors in a bloody and inconclusive campaign and had to settle for a compromise solution before getting out of the place to start his conquest of India, after many centuries of bloody wars and conquest by the most fearsome eastern empires including the Persians, the Mongols, the Mughals, the Turks and the Sihks then came the British Empire who lost an army and later after a bloody war had to settle for less than victory in a compromise solution before abandoning the land, then came the Soviets with overwhelming force fighting hard without regards for human rights and depopulating the country to deny a base of operations to the Mujahadeen warriors, they also had to leave without obtaining a complete victory and now the American and Nato armies are inbroiled in the same kind of hit and run warfare and without obtaining a conclusive victory.Seems the great powers are always able to take the country, the major cities and the valleys but they can never subdue the mountain tribes.The Pashtuns are the hardiest of these tribes and are located not only in Afghanistan but also in Pakistan, these fierce warriors have embrased the Taliban cause and seems they will endure and when the last NATO soldier leaves they will rise again to take the country, they have time on their side, while the Western powers are always pressed for a fast and easy victory and are quick to retire when negative public opinion starts to hurt the present regimes the Pashtuns will endure.



After reading this very interesting history I don't see a clear victory for the west in Afghanistan, there will not be a winning of hearts and minds, for the West to obtain a victory there will be very unlikely as the US and NATO will have to resort to practices that are abhorrent in their societies such as genocide (as the Soviets did) and erradication of Pashtun tribal ways and customs that goes against the inclusion and diversity practices defended by the West.The situaction is almost a catch 22 you need to rebuilt the country in order to provide jobs and order but in order to do that you first have to erradicate violence which entails a victory against the Taliban.Is depressing to see that Western good intentions will come to nothing and someday a new generation of even more intollerant and violent breed of Pashtun Talibans will again hold Afghanistan in its clutches.Some lands were born to suffer.

Posted on September 11, 2011

Genny Hane says...

I was skeptical at first on buying this one but I said what the hell and I bought it. Well after taking it home and popping this one in I was extremely pissed when I started to watch Inglorious Bastards 2 I realized that the company took the widescreen version and chopped off over 25% of the picture and trust me, it is very noticeable! This is seriously the worst dvd purchase I have ever done! Save yourself money and avoid this dvd at all costs!

Posted on September 12, 2011

Jackie Gragson says...

Stephen Tanner's book "Afghanistan: A Military History from Alexander the Great to the Fall of the Taliban," is a brilliant and exciting piece of work that will serve Western readers well.

Tanner's work covers the regional peoples and ancient tribes who have made indelible contributions to modern Afghan society to the first years of U.S. intervention in the "War on Terror."

The early chapters of the book are an interesting brief on Afghan history condensed. Featuring an exhaustive list of regions, tribes, villains and personalities that would otherwise require too much additional background to cover in-depth, Tanner fittingly navigates early history to focus on primary events in Afghan history and the overall Afghan experience, if there ever was such a thing.

Tanner's modern-day material draws on British, or at least mostly Occidental sources, and covers the British and Russian experience in Afghanistan noticeably more in-depth. The connections Tanner makes between Afghanistan and Switzerland are brilliant and set the stage for his conclusion.

Given the subsequent events since the book's publication, it would not be difficult to fill in any holes with supplemental material from various sources, if not Tanner's newer material, regarding the American-Afghan experience since. Obviously the accuracy of Tanner's analysis will remain to be seen within the context and perhaps only at the conclusion of the "War on Terror."

Afghanistan itself, exists as a profound storehouse and contributor to world culture. The future of the world's destiny is no less shaped by this region once bisecting East and West; now bisecting past and present, than it has been throughout time.

Overall, "Afghanistan: A Military History from Alexander the Great to the Fall of the Taliban" is an exceptional look at a subject too many Americans can claim ignorance, if only by virtue of geography.

Perhaps best of all, it is written with hope, rather than writing off the long suffering Afghan people, be it through Imperialism, radical Islam or perhaps most unfortunately, benign neglect.

REVIEW EVERY BOOK YOU READ, READER OPINIONS ARE WELL SERVED BY THE PHENOMENON OF THE INTERNET!

Posted on September 13, 2011

Maire Stace says...

I highly recommend this book to the general reader--it's written in very readable and enjoyable prose, and covers a lot of territory without bogging down in too much detail.For me, the most enjoyable parts were reading the early chapter on Alexander the Great's foray into what is now called Afghanistan, as well as the British disasters in the 19th century.The book's only weak point is at the very end--it was published in 2002 and doesn't--in my view--cover in sufficient detail the events of post-9/11 Afghanistan while bringing in extraneous information about events in "the war on terror" elsewhere around the globe.

Posted on September 13, 2011

Tessa Inostraza says...

I seen this DVD available a week early at my local FYE for $[...] and I was eager to pick it up since I am a fan of the original cult hit The Inglorious Bastards and am looking forward to Quentin Tarintino's upcoming remake. I admit to being suspicious of this product at first, because it looked like a cheap DVD and I figured it might just be a cheap cash in on the upcoming remake, but seeing as it came packed with 3 other war films for a decent price I took the plunge...and now I regret it.



The DVD is a doubled sided disc with Apocalypse Mercenaries and Warbus 2 on Side A and IB2: Hell Heroes and Bridge To Hell on Side B. The 2 films on side A feature irremovable Asian subtitles and have pretty lousy audio and video. The Side B films have no subtitles but are equally as bad in the A/V department. Inglorious Bastards 2 seems to really be a late 80's Vietnam War film titled Hell's Heroes and has no connection to the first film other than Fred 'The Hammer' Williamson appearing in both movies. The aspect ratio on Hell's Heroes is very odd...there is a thin black bar at the top of the screen and then a small box of the film on top of a massive black bar that fills up the rest of the screen. Even if you mess around with your TV menu to fit the image to fill the screen, it is still a horrible transfer.



I'm not sure how rare any of these films are, but I was never aware of a 'sequel' to Inglorious Bastards and this looks like the only way to get it on DVD. I rarely write reviews on Amazon, but I felt compelled to warn others about this poorly done DVD before they consider purchasing this. For those looking forward to the new Inglorious Basterds, I suggest checking out the original from 1978 which is a far superior DVD than this ca$h in and is now also available on Blu-Ray.



Edit: I have to admit I didn't bother watching any of the films in their entirety due to the horrible transfers, so I can't really comment on the merits of the films themselves other than they all appear to be B grade war films. I love B movies and Exploitation cinema (especially from the 80's) but I can't stand Dollar Storequality DVD's.

Posted on September 13, 2011

Angela Sherry says...

This is yet another Video Asia release which means that if you know what you're getting- VHS sourced movies on DVD for a small amount of money- you'll be fine with it. If you're going in expecting a major studio release with fancy picture and sound you'll be disappointed. You have to understand that in many cases the company is the only one releasing the films in English or anywhere, the choice is these less than perfect prints or nothing. Most of what Video Asia releases are low budget exploitation films that were made fast and cheap for a buck and which no other company would put money into releasing because the profit margin is so small (so small for get about restoration). I don't mind it having purchased many of the company's other releases (The Grindhouse Experience series of example)



The source for these films are clearly video tape since you can see tape wear in a couple of films. For the most part even owing to the source tapes limitations things aren't that bad. The one real problem with a picture is Hell's Heroes (aka Inglorious Bastards 2) since it appears to have had the image cropped in an odd letterbox. I'm guessing that its the result of a non-USA source pre-anamorphic tape that had subtitles at the bottom of the screen (some Asian countries would have letterbox prints with the picture at the top of the screen and subtitles in the black space below.) Its a minor thing even if the picture doesn't quite work with the widescreen TV.



The films themselves are good Euro-war films of decidedly B level action and budget level.



Hells Heroes (Inglorious 2) is about a break out of prisoners in Viet Nam and how they try to get to freedom before they are retaken by the American army. Its a good looking film with a bit too much talking.



Bridge to Hell concerns POWs escaping from the Nazi's in Yugoslavia and ending up fighting with the partisans. Its a good little film that is mindless entertainment. (its uses some footage from another bigger budget film for some of the action scenes.)



Apocalypse Mercenaries is about a team of soldier who are put together to fight Nazi's in Yugoslavia. Its a fast moving action film that doesn't have tome to let you think about the silliness of it all. This too has inserted sequences from another war film. Its not always perfect but if you go with it you'll enjoy it.



Warbus 2 is an in name only sequel to a better film called Warbus (thats on Video Asia's Grind House Experience Merc collection). the on screen title is actually Afghanistan:The Last Warbus. Its a just okay war film about a green beret going into Afghanistan to get documents hidden on a bus. No it makes no sense and if you let it not make sense its a watchable little film. Personally I'd rather see the first film again, but I didn't hate this.



Are the films great? no they are all films for a rainy Sunday on the couch. Did I mind paying for the videotape sourced films? considering I paid about 6 dollars for the DVD which works out to a buck fifty each, no I didn't. Frankly I got four films for what was little more than the price of a rental at Blockbuster (and I know I'll probably watch all but Warbus 2 again). Honestly had this disc not come out I probably would not have seen the films. I like the films and accepted the presentation for what it was. If you want high quality movies in a high quality release look for some other titles. Of you want low budget exploitation films that you'll probably not see any other way and don't mind the bargain basement presentation give it a shot

Posted on September 13, 2011

Dudley Bickell says...

For starters this book prematurely declares that the Taliban has fallen.Even now in 2007 the US is dealing with the Taliban.Second this book describes various battles and wars, but doesn't give any context.There are very few maps and he gives no context to where places are and how far apart they are.I was very disappointed with this book.

Posted on September 14, 2011

Casey Faigle says...

Thanks a lot to Video Asia for this releasing. Though it's true that the picture quality is not up to DVD Standard but to me it is fair enough in regard to the selling price. I'm proud to own the DVD by the way.

Anyway, in the near future, I hope Video Asia would consider releasing some other rare war movies such as 1) Strike Commando 2) The Walking dead 3) Platoon Leader 4) Field of Fire 5) Crossbone Territory 6) The Devastator

Posted on September 15, 2011