“White Tiger“ is a war movie, directed by Karen Shakhnazarov in 2012. It’s based on a novel by Ilya Boyashov “The Tank Crewman“, but I wouldn’t call it a proper adaptation, because a lot of things got changed or were accented in a different manner.
The main plotline remains the same, though: a badly burnt body of a man is found in a destroyed tank after a battle. To the surprise of everyone the man seems to show some signs of life, so he’s brought to a hospital where - once again, to the surprise and some horror of everyone - he recovers from the majority of damage in mere three weks and is able to go back to the battlefield as a tank operator.
The man is amnesiac, the only things he remembers are his tank fixing and navigation skills, and the fact that back then he was burnt by the White Tiger, a mysterious German tank who is rumoured to be appearing out of nowhere, destroying dozens of Soviet engines and disappearing without leaving a trace.
So the man, renamed Ivan Naydyonov, keeps searching for the White Tiger, while around them the Second World war is happening.
There may very well be a supernatural element to Naydyonov and White Tiger’s beings, but most of other characters prefer not to think about it too much.
Btw, you can watch the whole movie on Youtube with English subs - here.
Белый тигр
The White Tiger (Belyy tigr) is a 2012 Russian movie by Karen Shakhnazarov. The story takes place in the end of World War II. The Soviet tanker Ivan Naydenov (Aleksey Vertkov) barely survived a battle with a mysterious ghostly-white German Tiger tank. Even though he suffers 3rd degree burns over 90% his body he miraculously awakens the next day completely healed. He has a link to tanks as if they were living creatures. Now his only goal is to destroy the seemingly supernatural white Tiger.
A great war film with heavy elements of the supernatural. Based on the book “Tankman, or the White Tiger” by Ilya Boyashov which is an homage to Herman Melville’s “Moby Dick”
Genre: War
Duration: 104mins
Format: 35mm
Director: Karen Shakhnazarov
Cast: Aleksey Vertkov, Vitaly Kishchenko, Valery Grishko, Vladimir Ilyn, Karl Kranzkowski, Christian Redl
Ever wonder what a Soviet made action film was like?
This is “Solo Voyage” also known as “The Detached Mission”. And it is the Russian response to jingoistic cinema like “Rambo” or “Red Dawn”? This is that film
This movie is about an American treasure hunter named Jack Harrison who joins forces with a team of Soviet Marines ( or Naval Infantry) in order to thwart a plot by the CIA and military industrialists who plan to launch a nuclear missile to frame the Soviets and disrupt a disarmament summit… and maybe even start World War III! But Harrison, Major Shatokin, and a brave team Soviet troops are determined to stop this conspiracy of the elite and save the world from nuclear war!
Sound familiar? Its just, you are more used to having the Russian and American roles reversed.
