A German war film that viewers have praised as ‘compelling’ is now streaming on Amazon Prime Video.
Earlier this month Der Tiger (or The Tank in English) was released in the UK.
Set on the Eastern Front in 1943, the synopsis for the film explains: ‘A German Tiger tank crew is sent on a dangerous mission to rescue the missing officer Paul von Hardenburg (Tilman Strauss) from a top-secret bunker behind enemy lines.
‘As they make their way through the lethal no-man’s land, they must confront not only the enemy but also their own fears and inner demons.
‘Fuelled by the Wehrmacht’s methamphetamine, their mission increasingly becomes a journey into the heart of darkness.’
Directed by Dennis Gansel and starring David Schütter, Laurence Rupp, Leonard Kunz, Sebastian Urzendowsky and Yoran Leicher, the film has now been rolled out into 240 territories on Amazon Prime.
As The Telegraph has explained of the film: ‘It plays like a German equivalent of the Brad Pitt tank film Fury, depicting walloping tank-on-tank action and the sweaty, traumatising conditions endured by the men inside the Tiger. It also has a touch of Saving Private Ryan, with the crew questioning the point of their mission.’
‘Thought the film was a triumph for a Tank movie. Das Boat in a Tiger,’ viewer Neil posted on review site Rotten Tomatoes.
‘The actors were all believable and the stress and battle fatigue were real. The tank battles were fabulous and the cinematics excellent,’ he added.
‘This is less a “war movie” and more a very dark psychological journey into madness that aptly describes the fog and absurdity of war,’ JWL shared.
‘The Tank is a haunting psychological reckoning, less a war film than a moral autopsy. Beneath its surface, it wrestles with conscience, culpability, and the idea that you reap what you sow. The Tank is not just about war, but accountability. Hell is not imposed. It is earned,’ Dominic added.
Others called it ‘outstanding’, a ‘masterpiece’ and ‘mind-blowing’.
The director also wove in his grandfather’s experience as a German soldier in the Second World War into the movie.
Growing up he’d been told ‘old soldier’ tales about fighting in North Africa and frying eggs on top of a Tiger tank, but one day his grandfather and a friend got drunk in a pub and were left with ‘tears in their eyes’ and ‘shared darker stories’.
However, they never told them again – with Dennis saying the men ‘opened a book and then closed it again’.
Although The Tank has largely received positive reviews, its ending has divided viewers – with some calling it ‘unexpected’ and others going so far to say it was ‘disappointing’, ‘confusing’ and an ‘afterthought’.
Speaking to The Telegraph, Dennis shared: ‘I expected a little discussion, but it’s more intense than I imagined.
‘Right now, with the ending getting some backlash, I’m doubting some decisions.”
Before working on The Tank, Gansel had previously tackled the complexities of Nazism.
His film Before the Fall centred on an elite Nazi school, while The Wave was about an out-of-control classroom experiment in fascism.
Discussing how it was unusual for a German film to depict Nazi soldiers as protagonists, he told The Telegraph: ‘It’s unusual, and every time you do it there’s a big discussion about it.’
He continued: ‘I was familiar with having German soldiers or Nazis as protagonists. And why? Because my own grandfather was very Right wing. I think he was aligned with Nazi ideology and remained very Right wing until he died.
‘When you look at German films, you might think, “Was everyone in the resistance?” I said, “We have to make films about these people”. Not to have sympathy for Nazis, but to have a deeper understanding of how it can happen.’
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