We are at the Russian front in 1943. A seemingly super-natural German super-tank – the White Tiger – is attacking Russian forces, dealing deadly blows to them, shooting up dozens of Russian tanks at a time, and then, impossibly, seems to retreat to an area with nothing but swamp. Incredibly, one tank crew-man, burned across 90% of his body, is found alive inside one of the destroyed Russian tanks. Inexplicably, he recovers completely, his skin healing up with no scarring. Only, he cannot remember who he is. And he doesn’t want to know. He knows only that he is a Russian soldier, and he has an affinity for tanks, apparently able to “read” them in ways that seem impossible. He says the tank warns him when it is about to get hit. And he has an uncanny understanding of where the enigmatic White Tiger will strike next.
Unable to discover where the mysterious tank crew-man comes from, the military authorities simply name him Ivan Naydenov, “Naydenov” meaning something like “son of nobody”, and send him back into battle as an expert tank driver. Naydenov becomes instrumental in the Russian attempts to fight the White Tiger. They build a super-tank proto-type to combat the German enemy tank, and Naydenov is allowed to navigate it. Naydenov, as well as his commanding officer, come to believe that there is no human occupant in the White Tiger…
The story, which is adapted from a novel, is well-acted and well-produced in every way; gritty and muddy and looking like a realistic war movie. The ending does not explain what has been going on, at least not in literal terms. It turns into a symbolic tale about the German versus Russian spirit, and an examination of the overall cultural motivations for World War II. The movie ends with a sequence where Hitler himself is being psycho-analysed about the war, and boldly excuses the Nazi atrocities by claiming that Nazi Germany merely did what all of Europe had been talking and dreaming about in the years leading up to the war. True or false? Difficult to say; but definitely a topic that can spark plenty of debates.
White Tiger features music by Richard Wagner; especially a recurring rearranged excerpt of the Tannhäuser Overture, which sets the mood nicely.
Any fan of war movies and military strategy is sure to enjoy the scenes of mainly Russian T 34 tanks chewing up the forested scenery in this engaging and deftly-crafted movie. I wasn’t bored with a single minute of it, and I’m not even a particular fan of war movies. I am a fan of both history and symbolism, however, and this movie provided good entertainment, also for the intellect.
White Tiger was released on DVD in the UK on April 29. The DVD contains a trailer show and scene selections, but no other extras.
Director: Karen Shakhnazarov
Cast: Aleksey Vertkov, Vitaliy Kishchenko, Valeriy Grishko, Dimitriy Bykovskiy-Romashov, Gerasim Arkhipov and others
Runtime: 104 min.
Country: Russia
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