History Film / WhiteTiger

* DaylightHorror: The weather is beautiful and sunny for the whole film.

* AmbiguousEnding: The final scene is of UsefulNotes/AdolfHitler giving a monologue about human nature to an unknown, shadowed figure in a chair beside a large fireplace. Guesses of who the figure is range from [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Heidegger Martin Heidigger]] to {{Satan}}.
** The last we see of Naydenov is [[spoiler: him telling Fedotov that even though WWII is over, the White Tiger is not destroyed and could return any time. He then gets back into the T-34 he was working on. When Fedotov looks back, Naydenov and his tank seem to have vanished. ]]

* MaybeMagicMaybeMundane: It's strongly hinted but never confirmed that the White Tiger is a supernatural being.
** Nadyenov's miraculous recovery and HealingFactor are theorized to be a medical phenomenon, but there is much to suggest a supernatural origin.

* OnlyKnownByTheirNickname: Ivan Ivanych Naydenov. Naydenov means "found." He was found in a tank, and taken to hospital.

* SapientTank: Implied, given that the titular White Tiger is never shown with a crew operating it, and the tank itself somehow manages to destroy dozens of tanks with apparently superhuman coordination and skills.

** A standard T-34/85 had a crew of five: commander, driver, gunner, loader and a radio operator/machine gunner. Naydenov's tank had thicker armor and a bigger engine so it had less space inside and the crew was reduced to three.\\

Getting rid of the radio operator/machine gunner would not have been a big problem since its mission had it operate behind the front lines. However, combining the position of commander with that of the driver does not make sense. The tank commander was not just the senior soldier, he was also the tank's eyes and ears. He would occupy the highest point in the tank (often standing exposed in the tank's cupola) so he had a good view of the battlefield and could direct the tank. In contrast, the driver occupied the lowest point in the tank and had a very limited field of view. If there really was no space for a fourth man then it made more sense to combine the commander and gunner positions.

** Naydenov takes this trope UpToEleven. His injuries should have killed a normal human being but he recovers very quickly without any scars. Beside the amnesia he seems to not be traumatized by being burned alive. In another incident he takes a bullet to the leg and simply walks it off while the wound heals on its own.

* BunnyEarsLawyer: Naydenov [[{{Cloudcuckoolander}} prays to Tank God]], Kriuk is a lecher who regularly bring women to tank's inside, and Berdyev is a drunkard. They are the best tank crew Soviet forces can gather in short notice.

** Even the ''Germans'' apparently fear the White Tiger; despite it only attacking its enemies with deadly effectiveness, they sense overwhelming dread when it is sighted and feel no relief.

* CurbStompBattle: Any time the White Tiger appears against "ordinary" tank crews, the results are always spectacular - and always NightmareFuel.

* TheDreaded: Soviets, and to some extent Germans, are very scared of White Tiger. [[CurbStompBattle With. Very.]] [[NightmareFuel Good. Reason.]]

** FridgeBrilliance: The miraculous recovery to full manly strength from being shot to near-death is the hallmark of Saint Sebastian - who got revived to fulfill a sacred mission just as well. Just as expected, St. Sebastian is a [[{{PatronSaint}} Patron Saint]] of Soldiers.

* UncannyValley: There's just something ''off'' about the White Tiger, from its corpse-like paintjob and the strangely robotic way it moves, to its inhumanly fast firing speed. Indeed, Nadyenov claims that it doesn't have a crew at all, and Fedotov comes to believe him.

* HopeSpot: Late in the film, Naydenov and co. manage to corner The White Tiger after they manage to disable the Whte Tiger's turret. They move forward, [[spoiler:only to get the plugging the gun with mud and damaging the end. Then the gun breaks when they try to fire at White Tiger.]]

This is [[ShownTheirWork realistically played]]: a T-34, due to very sloped, turtleback-like armor, had ridiculos interior space. A T-34/76 was even worse than a T-34/85 by having not only small interior of the hull, but also a smaller turret. Anything added inside cut even more from the available space. Just as expectable, all 3 crewmen are small and thin.\\

** FridgeBrilliance: The miraculous recovery to full manly strength from being shot to near-death is the hallmark of Saint Sebastian - who got revived to fulfil a sacred mission just as well. Just as expected, St. Sebastian is a [[{{PatronSaint}} Patron Saint]] of Soldiers.

** A standard T-34/85 had a crew of five: commander, driver, gunner, loader and a radio operator/machine gunner. Naydenov's tank had thicker armor and a bigger engine so it had less space inside and the crew was reduced to three. Getting rid of the radio operator/machine gunner would not have been a big problem since its mission had it operate behind the front lines. However, combining the position of commander with that of the driver does not make sense. The tank commander was not just the senior soldier, he was also the tank's eyes and ears. He would occupy the highest point in the tank (often standing exposed in the tank's cupola) so he had a good view of the battlefield and could direct the tank. In contrast, the driver occupied the lowest point in the tank and had a very limited field of view. If there really was no space for a fourth man then it made more sense to combine the commander and gunner positions.

* [[OneManArmy OneTankArmy]]: The White Tiger alone blows tank after tank, whittling down the Soviet assault to pieces. [[FreakierThanFiction This is based on a]] RealLife incident, the Battle of Teterevino of July 8, 1943. The single Tiger #1325 led by SS-Unterscharführer Franz Staudegger from the [[BadassArmy Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler]] got caught under attack by a Soviet force of ''53'' tanks (34 T-34s and 19 light T-70s) while undergoing repairs in the village of Teterevino. As the only available tank on the spot, the Tiger crew and some SS-Panzergrenadiers fought the Soviets over the next hours, reportedly knocking down 17 tanks and routing the others before other SS units from the "Das Reich" division intervened. [[{{Determinator}} Undaunted]], the Soviet 26th Tank Brigade counterattacked '''twice''' the same afternoon and [[ImplacableMan gave up after two German responses by tank forces and an airstrike]].

** FridgeBrilliance: The miraculous recovery to full manly strength from being shot to near-death is the hallmark of Saint Sebastian - who got revived to fulfil a sacred mission just as well. Just as expected, St. Sebastian is a {{PatronSaint}} of Soldiers.

** It worked {{In-Universe}} only for Naydenov had a psychic ability to feel the tanks around even as he didn't see them.