White Tiger

Hopefully this will clarify one reviewer's dismay about the Tank in WHITE TIGER. The Tank in question was indeed a real tank. Being a German Tiger I Tank, it was terrifying, powerful and, while not completely invulnerable, its vulnerable points were limited. Built for power and heavy armor in mind, it created a quite real fear among Allied Soldiers, known as "Tiger Fever". The Tiger I was conceived upon Hitler's special request. He wanted a "Super Tank" to outshine the Russian T-34, which is shown in the film. This is more of a Tank review than a Film review, but it suggests something that is rarely communicated in war movies: TERROR. Mangled and charred bodies have become commonplace in movies, and the gunplay has become nothing more than elevated pyrotechnics. While not wholly successful in displaying the full terror that men and women in these situations must have felt, WHITE TIGER is still a worthy film.

This Russian WW11 tale can't make up its mind if it's looking at being about war history or a far-fetched supernatural pic. It also goes on far too long, outstaying its welcome with too much time spent on repetitive details for a rather foolish premise. There's an odd end section that looks like it belonged to another film, with Hitler sitting by a fireside and raving on about what he thought other European countries wanted him to do, and seemingly excusing the Nazi atrocities that many of these 'other' nations would have gladly assassinated him for. Well set-up but ultimately a disappointment.

Call me stupid, but when a movie is somewhat exciting, has good special effects, great costumes, and good cinematography, I get annoyed when all that is flushed down the toilet and the entire movie changes from "pretty good" to "garbage" in the span of 15 minutes. After a battle scene, the main character disappears until the very last minute of the movie. We're fast-forwarded 2 weeks to the end of the war, "treated" to a boring, drawn-out surrender ceremony, made to watch the German generals eating dinner for 3 minutes (why?! for the love of god), and then the movie ends. Leaving a slew of questions unanswered. But not until we see an aging Hitler explain that "mankind's natural state is war." Wait, Hitler survived WW2? Sigh. Now you may say "oh, it's an allegory," or "it's cerebral," but I want to watch something semi-satisfying and not have the rug pulled out from under me and not have everything that was built up just disappear with no conclusion or even explanation. Stupid. Waste of time. It had such potential too.

The Eastern Front, 1943. After a fierce battle, a young Russian tank driver is hauled out of his burned out tank, more dead than alive. Miraculously he survives and is made the commander of an elite tank crew. Their mission: destroy the mysterious German tank that is wreaking havoc in the sector, and which was responsible for the death of the tankman's crew: the White Tiger. The movie started very well: had a gritty, realistic feel to it: no gung ho heroics and graphically shows the grim reality of war. Unlike many war movies, equipment was spot-on: T-34s were played by T-34s, for example. Good production values. Plot looked like it was shaping up to be an interesting one: what is this mysterious German tank and how will the Russians defeat it? Will the Russian plan work? Unfortunately, that's about the last time it was compelling viewing, as the plot starts to develop holes. The first sign was when the T-34-85 that is sent to tackle the White Tiger only has a 3-man crew - no commander, no assistant driver. I understand why this was done: the writers wanted the main character to be the commander of the tank, while still being the driver (because he was so good at that). So, commander = driver. The military inaccuracies then start to mount and the movie starts to resemble a supernatural horror movie, rather than a war movie. Plot becomes more and more implausible as it goes on. It just gets worse and worse. The final act is a total write-off, as the plot goes in a random, tangential direction. Incredibly weak and anti-climactic ending. Very disappointing.

This film not only shifts gear regarding the pace, but shifts genre several times during its length. It starts as a combat movie about Soviet attempts to stop a tank that is causing severe casualties to their own tank units. Then it seems to go into supernatural territory. Then it turns into a docudrama. By the end you don't even know what it is. The allegory is simple: Russia rises like the Phoenix whenever she is attacked and nearly destroyed, and the enemies are a constant force in the great cosmic battle between Russia and the Evil Forces, which, as the film says, will be back, and Russia remains eternally vigilant. Now, did this film need to be so confusing? Did the writer think that making this point would be perceived as too on the nose if it wasn't wrapped up in all that filler? Because the entire film feels like filler for that one point. Characters are dull and irrelevant, and so are the excruciatingly long and poorly directed action scenes. This film has more tank driving in it than ten average tank movies combined. And the whole thing with the white whale - I mean, Tiger - is silly. Tedious + silly + confusing ... just to make a point that Russia is a nation that is constantly under threat? I feel cheated after watching it. Also, if this point is something that Russia finds useful for its own identity, why should it be of interest to others?

I found this film to be very successful. It takes an historical situation, carefully reconstructs it in an accurate and believable fashion, then applies an extra-real/fantasy overcoat as a platform to drive home a number of philosophical ideas. These are not simple ideas either, they are powerful and controversial and force one to think unless of course one was looking only for a nuts-and-bolts war movie. In that case, you will likely be disappointed but it worked perfectly for me. There were a number of slower scenes that would seem out-of-place without the wider philosophical/sociological themes playing out. I suggest that viewers not look to be entertained in the straightforward sense but instead allow themselves to be provoked. Don't worry about the acting, directing, sets, camera work, etc. They all good and work well. There is a clear Tarkovsky influence in many of the scenes although not as surreal what you get in Stalker and Solaris.

a film about war. a surviver. a tank. a fight like Melville's Moby Dick. image of battle in smoke lens. and all ingredients for this type of movie. it is difficult to say if it is a good film or not. crumbs of many histories about last world conflict are stones in a not flat mount. all is at right place. but , in few moments, the tale is only a sketch.sure, a film far from usual cages of ideology or triumphalism is a nice work. tanks seduction is always fresh. but is it enough ? after a splendid story the final taste is almost bitter. because the final of confrontation is more delicate, the script puts in public imagination the solution. and it is not really fair ! conclusion - too many directions, a not inspired mixture between magic and war facts. but , however, it is not a disappointing experience. only a trip in the corners of a myth shadow.

What starts off as appearing to be a superbly shot war movie quickly, and I mean within minutes, turns into a cross between a ghost story and a war comic. The acting is brilliant, the tanks look brilliant, but the script is extremely confusing. First we have the badly burnt main character who miraculously recovers and it seems regenerates. Now Russians are smart. They wouldn't send him back into battle, they would study him. Just a minor point and not enough to ruin the movie, but then the inconsistencies mount up. Like the German Tiger tank that blows up every Russian tank it sees, except for when it gets right behind our heroes tank. It misses. This German tank can somehow dematerialise at will and can also fire a round off each second. Fine, if it is a fantasy, I can accept that BUT then towards the end things suddenly change. We are shown the Germans surrendering in a long, elaborate and totally out of place scene. The hundred or so Russians all seem to have cameras in what could be a paradox of a modern day news conference. This scene is totally out of place and is then followed by another where the suddenly introduced German generals are given strawberries and ice cream by the Russians. Everything made sense at the end when I realised the script writer and director were the same. What a waste. This could have been a brilliant movie with a different script and a different director.

For a low budget film it looks good and there are some decent battle scenes. And it has a very interesting premise. That's the good part. Unfortunately that about all this film has going for it. The acting is pretty wooden. You never know what anyone is thinking, or feeling. There seem to be plenty of pensive moments but they don't reveal anything. Because not one character in the whole movie has a complete character arc. Who they are when they first appear is exactly who they are when the film ends. No one is changed by anything. No one learns anything. Not one plot point it ever resolved. The first and second acts plod along, not at a sluggish pace, but none too swiftly. And then, before you know it, the war is over. Literally, just like that. Not with a bang. Not with some triumphant battle. Just one long and boring scene with Germany surrendering to the Soviets. You wonder if this will eventually lead to something. But it doesn't. This is followed by another long and boring scene of marching captured German soldiers. And you think this is going to lead to something. But it doesn't. I can't help but wonder if either they couldn't figure out how to end it. Or that the whole movie was created just to give some public service announcement about the horrors of war.

I very rarely get so scared watching a movie that I have trouble watching it. The depiction of all the gritty details of tank culture was superb. Every moment, every mundane scene had a heavy tension to it -- you never knew what was going to happen next. The best thriller movies make good use of silence rather than cheesy background music, and this had those silent scenes. The story was kind of like Moby Dick transposed into the WW2 eastern front -- replace the great white whale with White Tiger and Captain Ahab with the mysterious tank commander. Be warned, the movie has a lot of burn victims depicted very realistically.