White Tiger

White Tiger (, translit. Byeli tigr) is a 2012 Russian war film, directed by Karen Shakhnazarov and co-written with Aleksandr Borodyansky based on the novel The Tankman, or The White Tiger (, Tankist, ili "Byeli tigr") by Russian novelist Ilya Boyashov. The film is about a badly wounded Soviet tank commander on the Eastern Front of World War II who becomes obsessed with tracking down and destroying a mysterious, invincible Nazi tank, which the Soviet troops call the "White Tiger". The Soviets design a new, more powerful T-34 tank and assign the tank commander the job of destroying the White Tiger. 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. Plot In the aftermath of a tank battle in the summer of 1943, a tank driver is found alive in a disabled Soviet tank, among other wrecked vehicles. Miraculously recovering from burns over 90% of his body with no scarring, he has retrograde amnesia: he does not know who he is, but retains all his skills. He is given the name Ivan Naydenov (from the Russian word найденный, "found") and returned to duty. Naydёnov believes he can communicate with tanks as if they were people, though he tries not to advertise this. In the meantime, rumors arise about a new, invincible Nazi tank that appears seemingly out of nowhere, wreaks destruction and disappears back into the forest. A captured German soldier describes it as a Tiger (P) painted completely in white. This mysterious tank is dubbed the "White Tiger" by both Soviet and German forces. Naydёnov remembers something from his past: he was injured by this tank and the tank is dead.