The Beast (also known as The Beast of War) is a 1988 American war film directed by Kevin Reynolds and written by William Mastrosimone, based on his play Nənawā́te. The film follows the crew of a Soviet T-55 tank who became lost during the Soviet war in Afghanistan. The film has enjoyed a cult-favorite status in spite of its low box office statistics.

In 1981 Afghanistan, a Soviet T-55 tank unit attacks a Pashtun village harboring a group of mujahideen fighters. Within the village, the Soviet tankers proceed to burn, blow up any buildings left standing and poison the water supply. One Afghan manages to kill the crew of one of the T-55’s with a Molotov cocktail. He is then crushed beneath the tracks of the ruthless commander Daskal. He does this in front of the Afghan women who plead for his life, and the driver, Konstantin Koverchenko, hesitates before being forced to go through with this act. The tank, having lost the ability to transmit on its radio, takes a wrong turn through a mountain pass and enters a blind valley. Taj returns to discover the village destroyed, and his father and brother killed—the latter by having been killed by Daskal’s tank. As the new khan following his brother’s death, Taj is spurred to seek revenge and leads a band of mujahedeen fighters into the valley to pursue Daskal’s tank, which they call “The Beast,” counting on their captured RPG-7 anti-tank weapon to destroy it.

Lost and isolated, the tank crew set out to find Kandahar Road and return to Soviet lines. While momentarily halted to try and determine their location, they are attacked by Taj and his fellow rebels. The assault is unsuccessful, with Moustafa, Taj’s westernized cousin, missing his shot with the RPG, and Taj’s uncle being wounded. Taj and his uncle set out alone, following the tank’s tracks. That night they meet a “Holy Man” who claims they will slay “Goliath” with a single stone. While camping for the night, Afghan Army crewman Samad educates the reluctant tank driver, Konstantin Koverchenko, about the Pashtun people’s code of honor, Pashtunwali; particularly nanawatai, which requires that an enemy be given sanctuary if requested.

En route, the crew suffer several setbacks and ambushes from Taj’s band, in which loader Golikov is wounded, their food and water ration are lost, and much ammunition is expended. Suspecting Samad to be a traitor after too many unfortunate coincidences (such as handling of a round which misfired), Daskal snaps after watching Samad go to pray, and murders him in front of his men; Koverchenko threatens to report Daskal. That night, Daskal explains his reasoning for murdering Samad as they drive through the river. When Koverchenko responds to his questioning of his service record with “I think for myself”, Daskal goes into a rant where he reveals his service in WWII during the Battle of Stalingrad, at only 8 years old. The next day during a brief stop, Koverchenko states that the tank is breaking down; Daskal twists his words to make it sound as if he is suggesting surrender, and accuses him of mutiny. He orders gunner Kaminski and Golikov to tie him to a rock, and leave him with a grenade behind his head as a booby-trap for the mujahideen. Wild dogs eventually attack Koverchenko, but he is saved when the grenade rolls off the rock and explodes, scaring them away. Taj’s band reunite with several vengeful women from the village and find Koverchenko, who pleads for nanawatai. While the women insist he be killed, they are overruled and the mujahedeen give him food and shelter. Koverchenko befriends Taj after fixing the broken RPG-7 and agrees to help them destroy the tank.

Meanwhile, the remaining tank crew come within viewing distance of Kandahar road, until they are stopped by a massive ravine that was not viewable on their damaged map. They are stuck in place after running out of fuel, until a Soviet helicopter appears and offers to rescue them. Daskal refuses the offer, has the tank refueled, and orders the helicopter to meet them at the pass with more fuel. The helicopter pilot says the pass is the only way out, finally revealing to Daskal that they are trapped in the valley. The crew heads back towards the narrow mountain pass where they entered, driving through the night and they find the helicopter crew dead the next day—they drank from a waterhole unaware that the tank crew had poisoned earlier with T-2. Daskal spots the approaching Mujahedeen, and after engaging them with the main cannon, the crew is finally able to get the tank running again and they take off towards the pass. Moustafa and his rebels stay behind to plunder the helicopter.