By Stephen Wilson
One of the most
outstanding films made in recent years is without doubt
The White Tiger. This
war film, made in 2012 and directed by Karen
Shakharozarov, is a
film about attempts to stop a sinister Tiger tank. It can
certainly claim to be
original. Being blessed with a brilliant plot, talented cast,
thoughtful dialogue
and subtle use of silence makes other current Russian
war films look stale
and wooden. It thankfully lacks the cliched plots of two
soldiers soldiers
struggling to win the hand of one Russian female
soldier or the absurd
melodramatic lines proclaiming how great it is to die
for the motherland.
The recent 'Patriotic films' with lavish investment, poor
plots and special
effects have become almost unwatchable. War veterans
practically never
watch them.
The film is based on a
novel by Ilya Bogashov. The plot centers around
a mysterious White
Tiger tank which emerges from nowhere to destroy 20
Russian tanks only to
vanish again into thin air. The Russians are stumped
as to how such a tank
can fly over swamps and go through impenetrable
forests. Legends
circulate among the Russians that this is no ordinary tank,
but a Phantom tank.
After this White Tiger tank destroys many tanks, the
advancing soldiers
discover that the driver of one Russian tank remains
alive. Despite
suffering from 90% burns, the driver miraculously survives.
But losing his memory,
they give him a new name Ivan Naydenov ,which
means 'found in tank'.
Naydenov, played by Aleksey Vertikov, is not only
described as 'a
phenomenon ' but regarded by most soldiers as 'a crackpot'.
"He should be in
a lunatic asylum not at the front, " states one officer. This
is because Naydenov
claims to be able to speak to tanks and worships the
God of the Tanks who
dwells in the sky and protects him against the White
Tiger. When asked
about the White Tiger, Naydenov states the tank is
dead and just fights
as best it can. Naydenov has the gift of being able to
sense where and when
the Tiger tank will emerge. So Major Fedotov, an
intelligence officer,
played by Vitaliy Kishchenko, is ordered to take
command of a team of
the best tankists of the Russian army in a new
prototype of an
improved Russian T 34 85 tank. Naydenov is assigned to
take control of this
crew with the goal of hunting down and destroying this
tank.
Naydenov's attempts to
trap the White Tiger tank by using another T 34
tank fails. Not only
is the T 34 tank destroyed, but the White Tank creeps
up behind Naydenov
tanks and fires, but inexplicably fails to destroy them.
This stumps all the
crew. They reckon that Naydenov must have some
special talisman or
magic spell to protect him.
When Major Fedorov
reports to his commanding officer that he now believes
Naydenov's claim that
the Tank is 'dead', his commander retorts: "I believe
that there is God and
the Devil. The war proves this! " Nevertheless, he doubts
the mystical
explanations of the tank and even the sanity of Major Fedotov.
Seeing Fedotov as
stressed out or mad, he grants him ten days leave.
The most strikingly
memorable scenes of the film are when the German
commanders are forced
to accept unconditional surrender. The tense
silence in the hall is
eerie, especially when it is broken by a clumsy
photographer who trips
up. In reality, journalists were not so tactful and were
pushing and shoving
the generals to get a story.
In one of the last
scenes Major Fedotov tells Naydenov : "The war is over
Naydenov, can you hear
me ....The war is over. It is the end."
Naydenov answers
"Until I destroy it, the war can't be over Major."
Fedorov claims: "It
is gone. After the Battle of Vistula. It disappeared."
Naydenov retorts :
"It is waiting. Maybe in 20, 50, or 100 years it will return.
It must be destroyed.
You know that is what needs to be done ".
Indeed, as if to back
up the words, the film ends with a haunting scene
of Adolf Hitler
speaking to the Devil in Hell. Hitler claims that "There is no
beginning or end to
war. War is the nature of things. We only did what
Europe was too scared
to do or admit. That Bolshevism was a scourge
that has to be
erased."
It seems that the
White Tiger tank is an allegory of fascism and that it
can return anytime
when we least expect it. Naydenov represents the
Russian soul and
spirit who understands that Fascism needs to be
taken by the bull and
the horns. What is more, it represents a kind of
deeply rooted
metaphysical evil. Naydenov , who was reborn in the
war itself, also
mysteriously disappears. Perhaps the film might also
best be understood by
reading the Novel of Albert Camus, The Plague.
In this novel, Camus
compared Fascism to the Plague and claimed
the microbes of the
plague could lie in a chest until someone unwittingly
opens it. So a
resurgence of Fascism can't be ruled out. Indeed,
current events in
Europe appear to be vindicating Naydenov's warning.
Fascism is winning
growing support in both current day Italy and Germany.
The film is very
thoughtful, deep and moving. But what do you think?
Does Naydenov really
totally damage the White Tiger or has it just
vanished to bide its
time? You just have to watch the film and draw
your own conclusions!
The film can be watched on-line via You Tube
and has English
subtitles.
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