I Say It Ten Times Over and Once Again No One Knows How
very strange but worthwhile war film!
Now to start off with, if you are planning on watching this film expecting another typical war movie, then you might be disappointed! This surreal Russian film is more about courage and mental torture of war, with battle scenes taking a back seat. For that reason I really liked it.
The story kept me captivated and the characters were interesting enough to invest my time in. When the tank battles do take place, I thought they were superbly done, with the mysterious "White Tiger" having a scary and almost indestructible sense about it.
Now one can dismiss this powerful German tank as just that, or you can look deeper and see what it stands for. The director has created a very multi-layered film that will make the deep thinker feel as though he or she has had a good work out.
Not for everyone, but in a world of movies that lack creativity and originality, White Tiger comes highly recommended!
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Moby Dick with an 88mm Gun
First things first - if you expect a "standard" war film like Saving Private Ryan or Enemy at the Gates or Fury, then this is the wrong place to look. White Tiger is a Russian film set in the dying days of WW2. The titular AFV is a lone German tank which appears mysteriously on the battlefield and destroys Russian tanks by the dozen, whilst seeming invincible. No crew is ever seen, with the result that it feels like a mash-up between the great white whale from Moby Dick and the homicidal tanker in Spielberg's Duel.
Hunting the tank is a character halfway between Captain Ahab and Ishmael; a Russian tank-man who makes a miraculous recovery from seemingly fatal burns, only to find that he has total amnesia. He only knows that he can talk to the souls of tanks, and that he must hunt the white tiger.
Sounds odd? That's the point. The film is heavy on metaphor and mysticism, and in the latter third becomes deeply surreal. There's a scene of three German generals signing the document of surrender, then enjoying a strange meal. Then cut to a line of Russian PoWs; then to Ahab/Ishmael alone in a field with his tank. The white tiger hasn't gone, he says. It's merely hiding, and will be back in a hundred years or so. Then the final scene: is it real? Is it symbolic? Is it happening in someone's head? You decide.
This is a cerebral film. It asks questions, and leaves the viewer to struggle for answers.
In Russian, with subtitles.
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War movie, Tarkovsky-style
Starts out as a perfectly good war flick and turns more and more surreal during the last thirty minutes. Or maybe I should say, it becomes a meditation over the meaning, the spirit, the essence of war. As a whole, White Tiger is like an episode of Twilight Zone filmed in the gritty philosophical manner of Tarkovsky - some faces and scenes almost appear like a nod to the protagonists of Stalker. It probably won't please those who watch this for the war part, and because marketed as a war movie, it probably fails to reach out those looking for the surreal and mystical. However, even if this film is an odd bag, it has the potential to leave a lasting impression on the viewer because the point it makes in the end (in the fireplace monologue scene) is utterly taboo-breaking with thoughts no Western-made WW2 films dared to express. 8/10 for a few sluggish scenes towards the end.
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Beautifully Shot Historical Epic with a Philosophical Ending
Karen Shakhnazarov's WHITE TIGER resembles a series of Chinese boxes, setting up viewer expectations and then consciously frustrating them. At one level it is a powerful depiction of the realities of tank warfare during the Second World War, with crews cooped up in confined spaces trying their best to outwit their enemies. Some of the sequences are quite breathtakingly shot - especially when the Russian tank commanded by Naydenov (Aleksey Vertkov) stalks the eponymous White Tiger, a German tank with the apparent ability to elude all enemies. At another level, however, WHITE TIGER consciously raises questions in our minds: at the beginning of the film Naydenov suffers 90% burns, yet makes a remarkable recovery. It is as if he has been resurrected. He doesn't actually have a name, but is given one by his fellow-soldiers. And then there is the ending ... after the Nazi troops have surrendered in 1945 to the Soviets, Naydenov is still shown stalking the White Tiger, which he believes will prove a threat for several years to come. This is followed by another sequence involving an actor with a distinct resemblance to Hitler. The film apparently celebrates the Soviet cause in battle, then undercuts itself by suggesting that all forms of armed conflict are inevitable. Through such strategies director Shakhnazarov shows how one person's 'defeat' might be another person's 'victory': such terms are culturally and structurally relative. What is perhaps more significant is to acknowledge the ever-threatening presence of war through time and space.
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67% great, 33% dull, 100% frustrating
Warning: Spoilers
'White tiger' is two different movies inelegantly and unconvincingly smashed into one, and this lack of harmony is its downfall.
The first element, which dominates roughly two-thirds of the runtime, is an interesting one. It's a war film, imparting the story of a Soviet tank assigned to hunt down an elusive Nazi tank. But it's also in no small part a fantasy film: the protagonist is effectively a legendary hero, and the enemy tank a mythical creature. Even the occasional feature blending the war genre with horror (David Twohy's 'Below,' for example) feels less abjectly whimsical than this. It's an intriguing approach, and one way or another, the first element is very enjoyable and keeps us watching.
Perhaps someone well-versed in military history will find fault with the details, but I for one quite enjoy the attention given to realizing the first element. The tanks we see look great, inside and out, and the costume design is eye-catching. Filming locations and set design are swell, working to the same purpose of visualizing the Eastern front. Careful sound design, makeup and prosthetics, and special effects - including abundant pyrotechnics - depict harrowing battle conditions, substantial destruction, and horrific injuries.
Characters are mostly set pieces, present only to help sell the story, and as a result it's difficult to remark on the performances of the assembled cast as being anything other than suitable. The heart of the first element of 'White tiger' is most certainly in the technical craft, the story told through the visuals, and the garnishing narrative that flavors the affair. The production design is outstanding, making for a riveting ride no matter how you look at it otherwise. Director Karen Shakhnazarov has orchestrated some fine scenes, action sequences most of all, and while the camerawork isn't particularly distinguished, Shakhnazarov ensures we get as complete a view as possible of every aspect on display.
But then we're brought to the second element of 'White tiger,' and in the last approximate third, the movie literally loses the plot. The clock suddenly advances to the end of World War II, Germany's surrender, and quiet meetings between figures of one stature or another. The action-oriented feature we watched for 60 or so minutes is over, and instead we get a 30-minute denouement that's at best tangentially related to the first element. The shift is so jolting that I thought the platform where I was watching the movie had somehow accidentally dropped me into the middle of a totally different feature. The connective tissue that would link the two parts is simply not realized.
Maybe the novel 'White tiger' is adapted from is more whole, but without that point of comparison, I can only speak to the screenplay co-written by Shakhnazarov with Aleksandr Borodyansky. And there are some really great ideas in that screenplay which, if meaningfully explored, could have done more to unite the film's two disparate elements, or which would have further elevated the first element if it were (I wistfully yearn) the entirety of the feature. These ideas include a fantastical notion that protagonist Naydenov and the antagonistic titular vehicle were both born - created - from war itself. These ideas include an even more fantastical concept, revealed primarily in a single scene of dialogue, that Naydenov's fight against the phantom tank is a religious crusade bestowed by the Tank God with whom he communes: the film could have been equal parts war movie and religious picture. Furthermore, there are themes present of the constancy of war, human nature, and - well, anything else the movie tries to light upon is done in such a ham-fisted way that it's not even worth mentioning.
Yet none of these ideas are allowed to mature and bear fruit in 'White tiger.' The writing thusly becomes a hodgepodge of action flick and post-war drama, with the two elements being almost entirely exclusive and distinct from one another. This could have genuinely been a great movie, but its shoddy construction dooms it. I'm disappointed to the point of being angry at how ill-considered this was.
The first element of 'White tiger' is marvelous, if somewhat incomplete as is. The second element is solid enough in concept that it could have been expanded into its own feature film, but as it appears here it is less than satisfying. The disorderly, slipshod, ill-fitting manner in which these two elements are conjoined reduces the assemblage into an unrespectable mess.
Clearly this has an admiring audience who better appreciates what it has to offer, and I'm just not a part of it. I hardly know what else to say at this point, except for that, to summarize, I think 'White tiger' was simply shaped very poorly. Except possibly for viewers with a profound interest in war movies, I can't especially imagine recommending this to anyone.
One thumb up, one irritated thumb down.
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This is NOT a war movie, but a symbolic parabola
Warning: Spoilers
If you expect a good war movie, with some video game-like scenes, it's not for you. Albeit the movie is very accurate in depicting contemporary armies, weapons and such - what else would you expect from a Russian movie? - it has nothing to do with history. Rather it looks like a mystic thriller until you get to the end.
The entire story of the White Tiger is not the central point of the movie, despite it looks like so. Whatever is the White Tiger, whoever drives it, or whatever happened to our hero before he was found is not the point of this movie. They are both symbols, and they are both misguides. While the viewer is lost in trying to cope with their meanings, puzzled whether Naydenov is a phoenix, rebirth from fire, or the White Tiger is supposed to be some godly chariot... while it is not.
This, dear viewers, is a quite delicate piece of film. There is a reason for changing the pace from an action movie to a Tarkovsky-like scene with the peace treaty and the dinner, and then the almost boring shot with the march of the POWs. And it is all revealed in the very last scene, with the person sitting at the fireplace and resembling Hitler, or is he Hitler himself? This scene itself is the answer to the mystery of the White Tiger.
Here we zoom out from the entire story. The Second World War is just a plot device. We are being delivered a teaching. And it is: Whatever happens in history is viewed through many people's glasses. All will distort it, and this results in obviously false stories of a ghost tank being able to obliterate entire divisions, or an undead tankman who is trying to fight it. And when such stories can be created, there is always space for more. Such story is the eternal guilt of the German people for what happened. Yes, dear viewers, this film is a very brave criticism on people who falsified our history: the White Tiger is nothing else but forgery itself. It symbolizes the stories born in the storms of history which last for decades, centuries even. This is what Naydenov's final words mean.
Indeed, it is a Russian war movie which super-gently assumes that Germans are not to be held guilty of the war, because most of history is actually made up. And I'll let you figure why the Jews are mentioned in the very last scene. Brilliant! Absolutely brilliant!
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Belyy Tigr/White Tiger : A war film by Karen Shakhnazarov which can be declared as one of the best war films.
One close look at the films made by Russian director Karen Shakhnazarov would effortlessly reveal that it is after having made "White Tiger" that he has reached the zenith of his cinematographic career. This has been acutely observed by film critic Lalit Rao who has earned unique distinction of having watched all his films with great attention. In the context of world cinema and some of its important directors, it would be a matter of great importance for erudite cinema viewers to learn that Russian auteur Karen Shakhnazarov has something in common with great French director François Truffaut. Both directors made numerous light films before directing their own personal films about war. This is why it can be said without hesitation that what "White Tiger" is for Karen Shakhnazarov as a personal tribute was what "Le Dernier Métro" meant as a personal tribute about war to François Truffaut. Both films are their personal "homage" to the absurdity of war. A review of "White Tiger" would not make any sense to the readers unless it is mentioned that it is undoubtedly one of the best war films to have been made in recent times. Although there are chances that a casual viewer might comprehend this film as "just an action film about tanks", intelligent viewers would quickly discover that "White Tiger" is a successful film which describes the whole aura of war. This is the reason why everything related to war has been depicted by Karen Shakhnazarov namely reporting during war, behavior of soldiers, strategies to tackle the enemy etc. White Tiger's "tank scenes" are visually rich as they demonstrate the victory of a man's mind over lifeless machines. Finally, White Tiger succeeds enormously as it captivates from the start and is much more valuable than a simple lesson of history involving some crucial last days of the World War II when Germany had lost everything but caused tremendous mental anguish in Russian camp by decimating its tanks.
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Brilliantly symbolic yet accessible
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.
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Superb cinematography, very tense and scary
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.
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Not a usual drama about WWII in Russia
Karen Shavnazarov shows us a different side of "Soviet era war films". Not straightly patriotic, with no heroes, "politruks", shouting hurrahs... The film is about war itself, it's more philosophical film about tragedy of war and God. I would say, it's like David Lynch shot a film about WWII. Mystical and tragic story for me The story is about tank driver, Ivan, who was severely burnt in a fight, but divinely survived. Set in a latest war days, somewhere in a Hungarian borderlines. He's regarded as a lieutenant for a command of a newly built tank T-34-85 to fight a mysterious "White Tiger" tank, destroying Soviet tank battalions with no harm.
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Promising start but ultimately very disappointing
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.
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White Tiger - White Lies
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.
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Great movie with an important message
As previous commentators have stated, this is an 'unusual' war movie. Despite having a quite good and accurate depiction of fighting on the Eastern Front, including depictions of lend-lease armour at the start of the film, it's the allegorical message that's the main point of the film.
In short, the battle between the White Tiger and the resurrected Russian tanker is an allegory of Russia's centuries old battle with invaders from the West (be they Teutonic knights, Napoleon or Hitler in this case).
The message of the director is that WWII was just another episode in this long struggle and that the White Tiger (western militarism) hasn't been destroyed in 1945, but is waiting dormant for the next episode....and the immortal Russian tanker will once again be there to confront the 'Tiger' again.
The film was made in 2012. Considering current events it's proved to be quite prophetic
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shadow of myth
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.
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A good premise that just fizzles out.
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.
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Watch the first half, then turn it off
Warning: Spoilers
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.
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Powerful anti war message....
White Tiger reminds me, in some ways, of a mechanized version of Come and See.
Its far removed from Come and See in terms of its content and approach but the powerful, anti war message, is fundamentally the same. War is death and death is never ending.
The tiger tank is a metaphor for modern warfare's mechanized, unrelenting and untamed nihilism. This is seen not only in the efficient destruction of tanks and people on the battlefield but also in how war alters the human spirit. What contemporary warfare comes to mean for people deeply and irreparably, touched by it.
People have become part of the machine of war and identify themselves on that basis. As can be seen in the mindset of the main character, in a sense, "born again", with a spiritual link to the killing machines he operates.
Its a message reinforced throughout this film and is watered down only a little in the final 15 or so minutes by a thankfully brief digression, that tries to explain the motives of the Fascist leadership, in its war against Russia. I can see why this has been done but to me, it still feels a little forced and rather redundant.
That said, White Tiger remains a subtle, clever, anti war film. One that comes armed with a rather unique perspective. Eight out of ten from me.
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"matryoshka doll"-film
a Russian war film. classic recipes. well known story. the hero. the enemy. old virtues and values. and a bizarre end. because Belyy Tigr has the strange courage to be almost an experiment, special challenge. sure, the Great War is presented in same familiar spirit for the public of Soviet films. but it is only a start point. sure, the traces of action hero are not ignored. but the message is more profound. and it transforms the film in a kind of matryoshka doll. the fight becomes key to understand rules of history. the victory against enemy is source of any answer. the spectacular confrontation scenes are pretext for a never ending hunt. the super hero, new bogatyr, only part of a large portrait of deep sense of victory.an ambitious project. and proof of the high art of Karen Shakhnazarov.
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Many questions - Few answers!!!
It's good film but my expectations were much more. I don't like in this movie artificial pressurization of evil. This story not seems to me realistic, though filmed well and with grand scale. Here is many tanks, charismatic actors, atmosphere of war, but no desired voltage. Clearly that creators have tried to scaring viewer with talk about mystical tank "White Tiger" but in fact tank on a screen looks not so shattering as its fame. Why this tank was such terrifying, such invulnerable? What is his power? Is it ghost or not? I very love films by Karen Shakhnazarov but his new film asks too many questions and can't give any answers, because, in my opinion, creators don't know theirs too, and just had shifted this mission on viewer. "White Tiger" is good story with an excellent idea and look in any case its will be useful and interesting.
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Unexpected pleasure and frustration
Warning: Spoilers
When I first starting watching this film I wasn't sure what to expect. This is a sort of Moby Dick with tanks. In the early part of the film we see what remains of a Russian tank regiment after an attack by a German 'Tiger' tank. Whilst trying to prise the hands of a corpse from the steering handles of a tank they discover the driver is still alive despite what looks like 90% burns. Somehow he survives and is selected to hunt the German down using a new prototype tank.
What we are given is a film that builds up tension very well as the Russian seeks to put an end to the Tiger's reign of terror and destruction. Here is where the problem lies as far as I'm concerned. The film builds up really well and is well paced... until the end. What had been a really enjoyable film has a substantial anticlimax. I was left with a real 'is that it?' moment. I had to watch the end several times to make sure I hadn't missed anything. Either that or it's one of the best film endings and I'm too much of a barbarian to appreciate it fully.
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Nuts
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?
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An absolutely fantastic film that requires thought
On first viewing, Belyy tiger appears to be a simple attempted mix of a war story and a ghost tale. The movie is extremely well done, but when you first watch it, the ending does feel like an unresolved dead end that does not satisfy the questions that are formed throughout the plot. But after dedicating some thought to the symbolic meaning behind the story and understanding some of the messages passed in the plot, i couldn't help watching it a second time, and then a third time and a fourth time, just to relive it from that informed perspective that enabled me to change my focus to look deeper at all the hints and clues that reveal what the story is actually about, rather than just taking in the plot at face value. This isn't a movie that aims to be historically accurate or realistic, but rather it's a fictional tale with a strong symbolic message about humanity, passed in the proper context of the greatest war of all times. The simplest explanation i can give without spoiling it is that it uses world war 2 as an example to make a statement about the eternal struggle between the forces of good and evil within our civilization, and in many ways i think it's also a tribute to the heroism of allied troops in WW2, using the particular example of a soviet tank crewman. It really is an outstanding film, and cryptic symbolism aside, it's also an incredibly real and beautifully done war movie, the actors are wonderful, the music is phenomenal, the locations are perfect, and it's one of the very few authentic feeling WW2 movies, with actual tanks, battlefields, soldiers and environments that all look and feel like they really came straight out of 1943. Don't expect a standard action packed war movie with this one, but rather an artistic depiction of a fictional mystery story that takes place in the russian\german front in WW2, and be mindful to look for the meaning and the message behind it when you get to the end. I can honestly say that despite not being a historically accurate or realistic movie (like i usually enjoy), it is still one of the best WW2 movies i have ever seen (and iv'e really seen a lot), and i honestly do prefer it to other high budget "realistic" films like Fury and other ones.. Honest 10 stars.
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Despicable and Disgraceful ending.
Warning: Spoilers
What started out as a Russian made WWII film concerning the activities of a T34 tank crew facing an adept German tank crew. Soon alters into the Russians facing some sort tank with supernatural powers and the like. What commenced as an average WW2 movie then descends into the ridiculous.
However, what ruins the film. Is the final scene of Adolf Hitler talking to God or the devil. During which states that he was only doing what the rest of Europe wanted and continues to want. That being the destruction of the Jews and the nation of Russia. Whilst it is supposedly just drama, it is a shameful and disgraceful ending.
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A quiet movie, oddly, a sort of allegory about war
White Tiger is much more than a movie about a terrifying ghost tank. It's a very retrospective and thoughtful look at a consciousness of its day. It's an easy movie to watch. It's not high action, and the pace is slow, but it is full accurate historical detail and poignant intercourse. It's the sort of movie where, for example, a movie reviewer tackling it on tv, would suddenly realise that he could take any number, indeed, multiple, individual 30 second segments, to show the viewers at home, and any of them would be strangely interesting. There's a faithful colour palette throughout this movie, and though locations don't change often, we do have fantastic sequences at the edge of a forest, in a Russian village, and in a captured German town. Those scenes are not unlike Come and See (1984). There's also a look at levels of higher command. The Director needed to put a bit more spook into the White Tiger in my humble opinion, some early on shots of its attacks would have gone a long way. We need movies like this to document periods of history before all living memory is gone. And let's face it, there's not a lot of movies out there about the Russian side of things in 1943, even though any decent historian of the war will tell you it was Russia that won it for the allies in the West, not Britain or America, particularly as for every major battle the West fought, poor old Russia had to do the same ten times over. In a way that's what White Tiger is doing, using a peculiar, screen-friendly horror myth as a device to show war in all its horrible fires, and mud and dirt, destruction, death, pain, and yet, gratefully, also humble understanding between comrades. This is a beautiful movie that I'm sure I'll revisit.
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A very creative Movie with a very Daring message
The Movie starts with a mystery and keeps attention of the user till the end.. however as the things turns towards the end it leaves spectators with a very deep feeling about a Powerful Message. Also scenes and talks shown at the end which every one knows however never dares to speak in Public. Loved the creativity , Loved the message and Overall presentations and scenes are also good and acceptable.
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