Smartorhypo Highly Overrated But Still Good

Matialth Good concept, poorly executed.

Bereamic Awesome Movie

StyleSk8r At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

s3276169 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.

deschreiber I won't repeat what others have said already here, other than to agree that this is an excellent movie. I do think some reviewers make it sound more bizarre than I did. For the most part I found it to be a generally straightforward war movie, although with a mystery added to it that, in the final scenes, takes on a deeper meaning.For us non-Russians, the movie has a special interest in showing what the war was like from the Russian point of view. I do, though, want to mention one scene that stretches credulity just a little. When the war ends and the Germans surrender, the top German officers are given royal treatment, a dinner fit to have come from a very exclusive restaurant. I thought it would be their last meal and they would be executed immediately afterwards, but the movie gives no indication of that. While it might be possible that an incident like that did occur, I doubt that it was the norm. The victorious Russians were generally terrible in the way they treated prisoners, certainly before the surrender. And that is an enormous understatement. After the surrender German prisoners were marched off to do forced labour in Russia, only a small percentage of whom ever returned. And it was not just prisoners--the atrocities the Russian inflicted on German civilians were just as horrifying. Yet, to be fair, it was was payback for the equally brutal treatment the Germans soldiers meted out to Poles and Russians as they advanced in the early stages of their invasion.As a music lover, I have one nit to pick. The credits say "Music by Richard Wager." Yes, the little music in the soundtrack does use a snatch of a tune by Wagner, but to say it's "his" music--no, it's only a tiny fragment of the original and without his fabulous orchestration.As of today the movie can be found on YouTube with English subtitles.

Michael A. Martinez While there's a lot absent in this movie that I usually take for granted in war movies (namely any infantry combat scenes), I really must applaud this effort on a few fronts.For one, there is absolutely zero obvious CGI or visual effects in the film. We get to see lots of real vintage tanks including T34/85s, T34/86's, a Panzer IV, and mobile artillery doing what they do best. The loving attention to authentic tank combat reminds me a lot of the other quite recent Finnish film TALI IHANTALA 1944 which similarly failed otherwise to really make a splash.There's a lot of good scope to the film, especially in terms of costume and sound design. Nothing looks cheap and the anachronisms are kept to an absolute minimum. It's a classically impressive Russian World War 2 adventure in many respects and looks almost like something Sergei Bondarchuk would do were he still been alive. Nicely, the structure is unconventional and it tackles a lot of philosophical areas of interest including mankind's fascination and relationship with warfare and destruction.Storywise, it's really nothing new for people who haven't seen THE WHITE BUFFALO or THE CAR. I never would have ever imagined I'd ever see a combination of those two films in a war setting, but lo and behold this curiosity. At its core is a loose retelling of "Moby Dick" involving an obsessive quest by a mentally handicapped individual to destroy a mysterious antagonist, here a Tiger Tank that seemingly appears and disappears at will to wreak all kinds of havoc on the Soviet lines.The biggest complaint here though beyond lack of action or originality is the poor attempt at mocking up a Tiger Tank. However at times from certain angles it works well enough if you squint, but almost unforgivable that the centerpiece of the film is so underwhelmingly realized.All in all, I'd recommend viewing for the realistic tank combat scenes and lack of CGI. Had it not been for this film, I would be tempted to say that they don't make them like this anymore.

alexeykorovin I enjoyed the movie throughout yet was left puzzled by the end. After I read some of the other reviews here, it all finally became more or less clear. It's a philosophical movie about myths of history - its whole story about an invisible tank is a myth. No such tank ever existed, of course. And no one could survive a 90% burn and then heal in 3 days.The only problem with this film is that is gives too few clues to the viewer. An average viewer (like myself) would be left puzzled and wondering about small details (like, why didn't the tank drown in a swamp? did it still exist after the war?) while not thinking about the topics the authors actually discuss here. E.g. the last monologue scene feels totally strange and out of place because up to the end, without external help or guidance like e.g. these reviews here, this all like a puzzle with a lost key. One should view this movie not like a standard war movie with heroes or a usual type of plot. Instead, it's just a collection of scenes: unrealistic tank battles, boring march of prisoners, signing of the capitulation and an incredibly absurd/genius scene with strawberries. This movie almost feels like "indie" (though it's definitely high-budget), I wonder if they covered their production costs because it's not a movie for a broad audience and most views might have said "I expected more shooting".