Film "T-34": Beware, surrogate!
A new era is dawning in Russian cinema. Suffering losses and crushing waves of audience criticism, the Ministry of Culture seems to have begun to reconsider its previous generous approach to distributing money for film projects. In any case, related to military topics.
And in fact, the situation when eminent filmmakers are showered with government money on the mere promise of filming “our answer to Private Ryan,” and the result, with a comparable budget, is postmodern slag, has become simply indecent and intolerable.
This is not to mention the television conveyor belt, churning out a stream of cliched and absolutely faceless series with cardboard characters wallowing in the plot vinaigrette, where any unassuming viewer can find something for themselves. A puzzling plot, seasoned intelligence officers, tra-ta-ta, piss-puff and, of course, a love story.
Moreover, love stories in Russian war films sometimes take completely perverted forms, such as “the love between the Russian nurse Katya and the good, but faithful soldier’s duty, SS Sturmbannführer Kurt, broken by vile security officers.”
And then everyone wonders in unison where “Koli from Urengoy” suddenly comes from.
So, the new film “T-34”. Our answer to American "Rage". The Soviet film "Lark", reshot in the scenery of the game World of Tanks. With patriotic pathos. Most viewers like it. I liked it so much that the entire session I could hear the crunch of popcorn with the gurgle of sucked cola, which sometimes drowned out the booming noise from the speakers.
Can you imagine the audience choking on fast food at the films “Only Old Men Go to Battle,” “They Fought for the Motherland,” or “Come and See”? No? But at the screening of the film "T-34" - quite. And in this case it is difficult to blame the audience for immoral behavior.
There is no point in retelling the content or discussing the artistic merits of this film. Its main advantage: a rollicking plot, good dynamics and very well-fitted cliches. Looking for the depth and drama of Soviet war cinema in it is initially a futile effort. Military history buffs and tank rivet accountants have absolutely nothing to do at the T-34 session.
If you are just going to relax, without loading your brain and without worrying, then this light-hearted film “about the war” is for you. “T-34” is in its purest form a myth about knightly duels on tanks, war in a light version, as entertainment that saves the viewer from the unpleasant look into the dark and bloody abyss of a real war. Everything is according to the rules of the computer game of tanks.
But, as usual, there is no myth without a grain of truth. The Soviet film "Lark" is based on the story of a captured Soviet tankman who managed - no, not to break free, like in the film - to iron German anti-tank guns with his unarmed tank, along with the servants who were shooting at him at the training ground.
The plot of “T-34” uses several real stories of unique battles of Soviet tank crews, each of which individually is much more interesting and dramatic than the attempts of the screenwriters.
It is much more useful and correct to learn the historical truth about these people, instead of consuming movie syrup:
1. The battle on December 5, 1941, near the village of Nefedyevo near Moscow, between the 89th Tank Battalion of the 16th Army and a tank company of the Wehrmacht's 40th Motorized Corps. The entire battalion—the only KV-1 tank under the command of the battalion chief of staff, Lieutenant Pavel Danilovich Guz—survived the brutal fighting.
Acting from an ambush and maneuver, Lieutenant Guz's KV-1 destroyed 10 German tanks, putting the remaining 8 to flight. In the same battle, the heroic KV-1 burned 15 trucks, crushed several guns along with servants, not counting the enemy infantry mowed down by a machine gun.
Coming out of the battle with numerous scars from being hit by German shells, Lieutenant Guz’s KV-1 returned to his unit on its own and continued to fight as part of it.
2. The legendary battle of the T-34 tank under the command of Lieutenant Alexander Sidorovich Mnatsakanov with the breakthrough “tigers” of the famous 502nd heavy battalion of the Wehrmacht near the village of Skvoritsy on January 20, 1944.
This combat is sometimes called "tank hand-to-hand combat." In the battle for a fork in the road, Mnatsakanov’s T-34 collided head-on with two “tigers”. The tanks entered a clinch and could not fire their guns. Thanks to the skillful actions of driver Burikov, both “tigers” were able to land on their bellies in the rut they had rolled out. Threatening the nearest stuck “tiger” with a grenade, Mnatsakanov forced its crew to surrender. The second stuck "tiger" was blown up.
Historians believe that Lieutenant Mayer, one of the best tank crews of the 502nd heavy battalion, was killed in the second “tiger”.
Lieutenant Mnatsakanov and his crew moved into the surviving “tiger”, went to the crossroads and broke into a convoy of Germans retreating from Leningrad, causing them a complete rout, after which he brought the captured tank to the location of our troops, despite the fire of his own artillery.
3. The film alludes to the "immortal dance of the little one," a T-60 light tank (essentially a tankette) commanded by Lieutenant Dmitry Ivanovich Osatyuk . The event took place on January 20, 1943, near Workers' Settlement No. 5 near Leningrad, during Operation Iskra.
At one of the fortified positions, the Germans installed four Pz-III tanks and, acting together with entrenched infantry, burned Soviet armored vehicles, repelling attack after attack.
At that time, the Pz-III were formidable opponents. Their 50 mm KWK-39 gun had armor penetration no worse than the 76 mm T-34 gun, and the tanks themselves received increased frontal armor thickness. The light T-60, armed with a 20 mm ShVAK aircraft cannon, was no match for it and could only knock out a Pz-III at close range. The crew of the “baby” T-60 consisted of only two people: the commander and the driver.
In general, the time came when the Germans defending the village learned that reinforcements from the “tiger” and “three rubles” were coming to them, and decided to go on the offensive, leaving one tank and part of the infantry on the defensive. At this time, the T-60 company under the command of Osatyuk was conducting reconnaissance of the area and the command tank was cut off from the rest of the company by the advancing enemy. Engaging in battle with superior enemy forces was madness. The situation seemed hopeless.
Then Osatyuk ordered the mechanic driver Ivan Makarenkov to show all his skills and retreat to the nearest grove, where the art. battery took up a position. Lieutenant Romanov. The artillerymen, having guessed the maneuver of Osatyuk’s tank, supported it with fire, and at this time the T-60 “encouraged” the German tanks hanging on its tail with fire from the ShVAK, deftly dodging the shells flying at it.
Chasing Osatyuk's tankette, two of the three Pz-IIIs were burned by our artillery, and the third ran away, deciding not to tempt fate. Left without tank support, the German infantry took refuge in a nearby ravine and took up defensive positions, driving away Osatyuk’s tank with grenades. However, the T-60 managed to unnoticed bypass the enemy infantry from the rear, and, having rolled a rut, jumped into the thick of the Nazis. Mechanic driver Makarenkov ironed the enemies with his tracks, while Osatyuk, having pulled out the support pin of the machine gun’s trigger, turned on the automatic firing mode, and he himself helped him from the ShVAK.
When the first Soviet soldiers in white camouflage suits appeared on the edge of the ravine, they saw a picture worthy of the brush of Hieronymus Bosch. It is clear that counting the number of fascists rolled out and torn to shreds was an impossible task. Osatyuk answered the questions “how many of them did you stuff there?” He answered like this: “Hitler sent them here, so let him count.”
And finally, the key, and perhaps the most rotten cliche from the film “T-34” is the final handshake between the fake German tank ace Klaus Jaeger and the fake tanker Ivushkin, who defeated him in a tank duel.
Of course, I understand that the film “T-34” is entertainment, but the authors still need to know when to stop.
On the Eastern Front, tank duels, if they happened, were by chance, not by agreement. And there was no chivalry in them. There was rage and a great desire to turn the enemy into iron trash and bloody splashes. Near Prokhorovka, the crews of the damaged tanks continued to fight with small arms and came to hand-to-hand combat.
It is no coincidence that the Nazis fiercely hated everyone who resisted them and caused damage. Soviet tank crews who escaped from a burning tank were either shot right next to the burning vehicle, or, if there was time and available means, they were doused with gasoline and burned alive.
By the way, the tanker mentioned above, who served as the image for the main character of the film “Lark,” was shot by the Germans. According to some sources, right next to the damaged tank, according to others, before his death, the Nazis subjected the hero to inhuman torture, according to others, the head of the training ground ordered a guard of honor, after which he personally discharged his Walther at point-blank range, “paying tribute” to the courage and dedication of the Soviet tanker .
In general, historical science is practically unknown about examples of the generosity of the Nazis, who, for fun, raised children on bayonets and paved passages through mud and puddles from rare library books.
Even the well-known story about the German soldier Joseph Schultz, who allegedly refused to participate in the execution of Yugoslav partisans and stood next to them at the execution wall, turned out to be a myth.
And it is completely doubtful that a Soviet tankman, and even a prisoner of war, would shake the paws of a “noble” fascist, even a defeated one.
Here is a well-known, one might say, textbook example. Pilot Alexey Sevastyanov shot down a Heinkel with a ram. Its pilot escaped and was captured. When Sevastyanov entered the room where the pilot he had shot down was being interrogated, he stood up and extended his hand to him, recognizing his superiority. But pilot Sevastyanov did not shake hands with the downed fascist and did not appreciate the beautiful gesture.
To sum it up sadly.
The fact that the T-34 will most likely recoup the money spent on it, and that’s not bad. The authors managed to make a film that didn’t burden viewers using the patterns of the World of Tanks game. The bad thing is that people are snatching it up, and the bosses, apparently, will adopt it as a commercially successful trick. It will not be possible to make a film about real war heroes in these amusing settings, and therefore serious films about the war will either not be made at all, or will continue to be released in the format of Mikhalkov’s postmodern trash. This means that the historical truth and memory of the real war will be eroded more and more, replaced by easily digestible surrogates.
English version :: Read in English The film "T-34": Beware of the surrogate!