White Tiger (2012 film)

White Tiger

Russian DVD cover
Directed by Karen Shakhnazarov
Produced by Karen Shakhnazarov
Written by Aleksandr Borodyansky
Karen Shakhnazarov
Ilya Boyashov
Starring Gerasim Arkhipov
Cinematography Aleksandr Kuznetsov
Release dates
  • 3 May 2012 (2012-05-03)
Running time
 104 minutes
Country Russia
Language Russian

White Tiger (Russian: Белый тигр, translit. Belyy tigr) is a 2012 Russian action war film directed by Karen Shakhnazarov. The film was selected as the Russian entry for the Best Foreign Language Oscar at the 85th Academy Awards, but it did not make the final shortlist.[1] The film is based on the novella Tankist, ili "Belyy tigr" (The Tank Crewman, or "the White Tiger") by Russian novelist Ilya Boyashov.

Plot

It is World War II. After a battle, a tank operator is found in a destroyed Soviet tank. Miraculously recovering from burns on 90 percent of his body, he suffers amnesia and cannot recall his identity. He receives a new passport in the name Naydenov (from the Russian word for "found"), and is returned to duty. Naydenov believes he has the ability to communicate with tanks as if they were people, though he tries not to advertise this. He is also recognized as the best tank driver in his army group.

In the meantime, rumors arise about a new, invincible Nazi tank that appears seemingly out of nowhere and disappears just as quickly, destroying dozens of Soviet tanks in the process. This mysterious enemy tank is dubbed "White Tiger" by the Soviet forces.

Naydenov believes it is this tank that nearly killed him, and he is out for revenge. Given his skills, Naydenov is ordered to locate and destroy this White Tiger. Naydenov is convinced that the enemy tank is unpiloted, being essentially a ghost of war. The counterintelligence officer assigned to tracking down the White Tiger, who helps Naydenov, comes to believe the latter's interpretation.

During a subsequent military action, Naydenov's tank comes upon the White Tiger tank in an abandoned village and engages it in battle. The White Tiger is damaged but not destroyed, and manages to escape. The counterintelligence officer then attempts to convince his commanding general that both the tank and the "born again" Naydenov are creations not of man, but of the war itself. The general is unconvinced.

After the fall of Nazi Germany, the counterintelligence officer meets Naydenov in a field and tries to convince him that the war is over, but the latter disagrees, saying that the war will not truly end until the White Tiger is destroyed. The White Tiger has gone into hiding, but, Naydenov claims, it is inevitable that sooner or later it will come back unless it is eradicated. In this way the viewer is revealed that the White Tiger is a metaphor for war itself, and that Naydenov is a symbol of all men that have been torn by war but which have, as a result, acquired an iron-will conviction to oppose war in any of its forms. Naydenov then mysteriously vanishes into thin air along with his tank, presumably having gone in search of the White Tiger.

In the final scene of the film, Hitler is shown seated in a large room with a fireplace, talking to a stranger and defending his actions during the war.

Cast

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Karen Shakhnazarov's "White Tiger"nominated for Oscar". PanArmenian. PanArmenian. 20 September 2012. Retrieved 20 September 2012.
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