Poster of Russian war film T-34 Photo: Weibo

Russian war film T-34, about the World War II-era Soviet medium tank used during the defense of the Soviet Union, received high marks and many positive reactions from Chinese audiences for its battle scenes after its release in Chinese mainland theaters on Friday.

The movie has a 7.5/10 on major Chinese media review site Douban from among more than 20,000 reviews and a 9.2/10 on Chinese ticketing platform Maoyan.

The film narrates the life of Nikolai Ivushkin, a tank commander who gets captured by the Nazis. Three years later, he begins to plan his ultimate escape, alongside his newly-recruited tank crew.

Many Chinese moviegoers have commented that the most brilliant part of the film is its battle scenes, especially the tanks fights, and that it is definitely a film for military fans. 

“Russian people love tanks so much and they've made more tank-themed movies than the rest of the world combined. The movie has fantastic tank fight scenes,” one reviewer wrote on Douban.

The theme song for the version of the film screening in the Chinese mainland was made by several Chinese musicians. The song is a rock’n’roll adaptation by well-known Russian music “Katyusha.” 

Sunday was China’s National Memorial Day for Nanjing Massacre Victims. Some Chinese netizens said on China’s Twitter-like Sina Weibo that the film deserves to be watched on this day to commemorate those who sacrificed their lives and tried hard to fight for justice during World War II.

The movie was released in Russian on January 1, 2019.

Global Times