I stumbled across this while checking details for an earlier review. Intrigued, I got the DVD.
How to describe this film? It's like a cross between Fury and Moby Dick directed by Tarkovsky.
I'm not going to give any spoilers, but I am sure it will not be to everyone's taste.
On one hand it's grimly realistic about tank warfare - unusually it starts with the aftermath of a tank battle where the sole survivor, badly burnt, is taken off to a field aid station then a hospital, so that is a sobering look at the injured. He's lost his memory, and is given the name Ivan Nadirov (=John Found). Surprisingly he recovers quickly, and remembers his tank skills. These are in short supply, so despite the misgivings of one of his doctors he is shipped back to the front.
The mysterious, invincible White Tiger seems to attack out of nowhere and crush Russian armour. An intel/recon officer is tasked with destroying it, and selects Nadirov as one of the elite crew to man a souped-up T34. It's more like a force of supernatural evil than a tank.
Nadirov, though quiet and acquiescent, believes he can communicate with tanks. So there's a strange mystical level to this film which sits uneasily with the realism. One of his officers says, "He shouldn't be here, he belongs in a loony bin."
The T34 crew commanded by him tries to destroy the White Tiger by various means. The last 20 mins seems to come from another film entirely. Some people love this. I went "What the hell?"
I can't say I recommend this film. I found it quite unsatisfactory in places. Yet some of the tank battles are great, with loads of T34s (real I think), no dodgy CGI - real physical fx, and things you'd never see in Fury - burning & burnt tank crews littering the wreckage.
I wonder if I am missing something? Perhaps some of our Russian members might see this differently?
How to describe this film? It's like a cross between Fury and Moby Dick directed by Tarkovsky.
I'm not going to give any spoilers, but I am sure it will not be to everyone's taste.
On one hand it's grimly realistic about tank warfare - unusually it starts with the aftermath of a tank battle where the sole survivor, badly burnt, is taken off to a field aid station then a hospital, so that is a sobering look at the injured. He's lost his memory, and is given the name Ivan Nadirov (=John Found). Surprisingly he recovers quickly, and remembers his tank skills. These are in short supply, so despite the misgivings of one of his doctors he is shipped back to the front.
The mysterious, invincible White Tiger seems to attack out of nowhere and crush Russian armour. An intel/recon officer is tasked with destroying it, and selects Nadirov as one of the elite crew to man a souped-up T34. It's more like a force of supernatural evil than a tank.
Nadirov, though quiet and acquiescent, believes he can communicate with tanks. So there's a strange mystical level to this film which sits uneasily with the realism. One of his officers says, "He shouldn't be here, he belongs in a loony bin."
The T34 crew commanded by him tries to destroy the White Tiger by various means. The last 20 mins seems to come from another film entirely. Some people love this. I went "What the hell?"
It seemed to be building up to Nadirov and the officer hunting down the White Tiger by themselves (the rest of the crew are gone awol drinking as the war is over) as a climax. That didn't happen.
I can't say I recommend this film. I found it quite unsatisfactory in places. Yet some of the tank battles are great, with loads of T34s (real I think), no dodgy CGI - real physical fx, and things you'd never see in Fury - burning & burnt tank crews littering the wreckage.
I wonder if I am missing something? Perhaps some of our Russian members might see this differently?
