SHOULD I READ IT? White Tiger (2012)

                “White Tiger” is a Russian movie that was the nation’s selection for the 85^th Academy Awards. It did not make the cut.  It was produced, directed, and co-written by Karen Shakhnazarov (a male, by the way).  The source material was a novella by Ilya Boyashov.  The movie is set during the Great Patriotic War against Nazi Germany. 

                It is the summer of 1943 and a nearly dead tank driver is pulled out of a destroyed tank and taken to the hospital with 90% burns.  He makes an amazing recovery, but he has amnesia.  He is given the name Naydanev which means “found”.  He finds that he has the ability to speak to tanks.  He is the “tank whisperer”.  His goal (obsession) is to get even with a mystical German tank called the “White Tiger”.  He thinks this demon destroyed his tank, and a crap load of others.  Naydenev is supposedly given a super tank but to tell the truth it doesn’t look any different than a regular T-34.  He sets up an ambush, but the White Tiger escapes into a swamp.   Later, after it singlehandedly decimates a Soviet tank assault, it escapes into a fog.  Mother Nature seems to be a Nazi.  Eventually Naydenev gets his duel and a village takes the brunt of it.  The movie ends with Adolf Hitler ranting about war being the natural human state.

                The Russians have made some good war movies.  “9^th Company” and “The Fortress of War” come to mind.  Unfortunately, “White Tiger” is not one of the better ones.  It starts with an intriguing premise.  But instead of going down the surer route of steering toward horror territory, it decides to get all metaphorical on us.  As best I can figure, the White Tiger represents war and Naydanev is the desire to end it.  I could be wrong and the screenwriters could have just been hacks.  I do know that by the end of the film, it is easier to make a case for Naydanev being bat s*** crazy than believe that he is some avenging angel.  The whole movie is perplexing.  I don't think intentionally.  It might have worked as a camp fest, but Shakhnazarov appears to have taken the material seriously.  For that reason, the combat is not over the top.  The White Tiger is pretty awesome, but not even close to invulnerable.  In fact, it does a lot of running away in the movie.  I can only imagine what the South Korean film industry could have done with the premise.  There is nothing about the movie that takes your mind off the script flaws.  Vertkov is not the Russian Brad Pitt.  The real star is the White Tiger.  We don’t get to see its interior, but Naydanev’s tank’s interior is appropriately gritty and cramped.  There is some POV from the interior and overall the cinematography is fine.  It could have been a much better movie.  Pity.  What a waste of a great title.

GRADE  =  F