Белый тигр - White Tiger (2012)
Каре́н Шахназа́ров - Karen Shakhnazarov
Белый тигр/White Tiger
“Did the Tank God tell you this?”
“Yes.”
“And this god of yours, where is he?”
“In the sky, in the clouds, he’s got a throne. He sits on his throne and around him are the tanks which have perished in combat.”
“And what does he look like, this god?”
“He’s in coveralls, in a tank helmet. He’s got a ‘34, gilded. When he sits in it, the thunder peals and the lightning flashes. There, you see…”
“And he helps you in battle?”
“He helps me. I hear the tanks. All tanks talk, only no one hears them, but I hear them. And they, when the shells are flying at them, they warn me and I get out of the way of the shells. That’s how they help me. They want me to live. And they want me to burn that White Tiger.To exact vengeance.”
“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
