Armed Tiger Delta by John Richmond

Genre: Historical Drama      

Format: Short film
 

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Logline:

Physical and emotional torment is endured as an American Captain is imprisoned behind enemy lines during the Russian Intervention of 1919 pushing him to the deepest and darkest corners of his mind as he preserves his top-secret mission to keep his codes safe.

 

Historical context:  
In 1918 The Polar Bear Expedition was a contingent of 5,000 United States Army troops that landed in Russia as part of the Allied Intervention in the Russian Civil war. By April 1919 it was imperative that the Allied war material stockpiles near Arkhangelsk did not fall into Bolshevik hands. John, an Army Captain, watched helplessly as his company was ambushed while delivering the secret codes revealing the location of the stockpiles to Allied HQ.

 

Brief Synopsis:
American soldier JOHN makes his way through a Russian battlefield, picking off enemy soldiers with expertise. He witnesses a CHAPLAIN comforting a dying soldier before he is swiftly killed. John rips off his captain's insignia and assumes the uniform of the Chaplain before he is captured by Russian forces. John is imprisoned at a Russian POW camp with several other American soldiers. He is placed in a cell with a young man named SAMUEL. Russian soldier PETYR tortures and taunts John daily, trying to get him to reveal military codes. Samuel tries to convince John to give up the codes earlier to prevent soldiers from getting killed. John holds off until the reinforcements storm the POW camp and save them.

 

Synopsis:

Cut to an American soldier (JOHN) sprinting to escape enemy fire, but they are closing in fast. Before they capture him, he swaps clothes with a dead CHAPLAIN and takes his Bible. John is transported to a Russian POW camp, where several American troops are interrogated by a ruthless and sadistic officer named PETYR. Petyr has been informed that the Americans in his possession may hold military codes of great importance. He is suspicious of John and tells him that he will kill all the other prisoners, that way John can pray for their souls.
 

Petyr interrogates a soldier named BOBBY, eventually shooting him in front of John. He returns to his cell and meets another soldier named SAMUEL. Samuel acts erratically, and John is unsure if he can be trusted. Petyr reveals to John that his brother was also a chaplain and was killed by American soldiers.
 

John continues to deny having any knowledge of the codes and Petyr leaves after roughing John up. Samuel plays the bad cop as he continues to plant doubt in John’s mind, challenging his faith by challenging God himself.  John and Samuel engage in a controversial exchange and then Samuel tells John his plan to escape. John isn’t interested so Samuel threatens to tell the guards he is not a real chaplain unless John agrees to his escape plan.
 

John seizes an opportunity and overpowers Petyr and free the remaining prisoners. American troops storm the POW camp. However, Petyr overpowers John and he is shot in the leg. Petyr threatens to throw a grenade towards gas cannisters beside the advancing American troops. John jumps on top of Petyr and the grenade saving the reinforcements lives.
 

SERGEANT JONES looks inside John’s Bible. He flicks to the story of King David and finds the coded words starting “Armed tiger delta.” During a flashback, it is revealed that Samuel is a ghost of John’s imagination, based on the image of a dying soldier from the battlefield.