Rambo III (1988)

Directed by: Peter MacDonald | 101 minutes | action, drama, thriller, adventure | Actors: Sylvester Stallone, Richard Crenna, Marc de Jonge, Kurtwood Smith, Spiros Focás, Sasson Gabai, Doudi Shoua, Randy Raney, Marcus Gilbert, Alon Abutbul, Mahmoud Assadollahi, Joseph Shiloach, Harold Diamond, Matti Seri, Hany Said El Deen, Shaby Ben-Aroya, Marciano Shoshi, Sadiq Tawfiq, Julian Patrice, Tal Kastoriano, Benny Bruchim, Tikva Aziz, Milo Rafi

A well-known saying goes: ‘history repeats itself’ and this feeling comes over you when you watch the third installment in the Rambo series. First, because Vietnam veteran John Rambo does his household chores in the way he’s familiar with, as he did in the first two parts. Second, we see that the Russians tried to take over Afghanistan in the 1980s and the Americans tried the same twenty years later. You may conclude that both superpowers have conspicuously failed to bend tiny Afghanistan to their will.

The latter will have little meaning for real Rambo enthusiasts, because it is all about their hero succeeding in making the impossible possible despite major setbacks and gigantic opposition. And also in ‘Rambo III’ Sylvester Stallone gets another great opportunity to display his fighting skills and imbue the world with all the good that America has to offer. ‘Sly’ initially has no appetite for a dirty job in Afghanistan of all places and think him wrong. However, when his best friend, Colonel Trautman (Richard Crenna), is overpowered by the Russians, our hero doesn’t have to think twice. After all, it’s still Cold War in 1988! And when Russia provokes, America – in the person of Rambo – must act.

Stallone therefore again ties a black bandana around his head and with a stoic look and long(!) hair he goes into battle. When a couple of Afghans (a people who have been used to being at war for centuries) think Rambo is crazy because he wants to close a Russian encampment on his own, it is clear that ‘Rambo III’ will be the superlative of the first two parts. It is perhaps not surprising that ‘Rambo III’ was recorded in the Guinness Book of Records in 1990 as the most violent film to date, with hundreds(!) killed and injured. Of course it is then of minor importance whether the film has a logical story or whether everything is going according to plan; when you have someone who single-handedly fights the puss of the earth, you don’t need military forces anymore! However, you are sometimes left with conflicting feelings when you see that the Russians of the past are the Americans of modern times. The mighty Soviet Union was unable to bring tiny Afghanistan to its knees, the way the United States choked on Vietnam before. And the same Americans and a handful of Western countries are falling into the same trap as the Russians 20, 25 years earlier. In ‘Rambo III’, the Russians are the unreliable opponent, while director MacDonald portrays the Afghans as a heroic people, who always overcome invaders and favor the Americans. At the end of the film, Afghanistan is even literally thanked as a good and proud people who can count on the support of America. Many years later the Afghans were again besieged; this time by the Americans themselves. Oh, irony!