Rating: 
Summary: A must see movie
Review: This movie was fantastic. I highly recommend you watch it all the way through (I made stops and took two days to complete the movie) and that you watch it in German with the subtitles. This movie is so gripping... and the ending will leave you stunned. This is a must see for anyone - not just submarine, military movie lovers. Great action, great sound, great movie! DVD director's commentary is fascinating although I must admit I didn't rewatch the entire movie to listen to it all. DVD is the way to go on this film!
Rating: 
Summary: Das Boot
Review: The best U-boat movie ever made. U-571 should be ashamed for stealing material and even dialog from this film. My only problem is with the dubbed version. The subtitled version is 100% better. Who wants to watch German soldiers speaking in English with French accents? Try to see this movie subtitled if you can.
Rating:
Summary: High pressured, silent and deadly.
Review: Any movie that is subtitled has to overcome a lot to get me totally involved in its plot. In the case of Germany's celebrated Submarine classic "Das Boot", I don't remember there being subtitles past the first five minutes. What originally drew me to the film was Jürgen Prochnow. He's such a great actor and he really impressed me in "Dune" and "The Seventh Sign". As usual, his portrayal of the German Navy Captain is understated and yet impressively powerful.
If you know your modern history, you'll be familiar with the German Submarine Command's service history, during the Second World War. In the early years these subs caused havoc in the Atlantic Ocean and beyond, virtually bringing merchant shipping to a standstill. Over time however, the Allies' newly commissioned sub-hunter ships challenged the German's stealthy supremacy. Disappointingly, those great "sub verses sub" duels rarely happened during WWII.
Das Boot's story takes place during the final years of the war. German subs were hounded everywhere they went, resulting in a survival rate that even drew sympathy from the Luftwaffe. Despite these desperate straits, the German high command continued to find missions for the remaining sub crews. Naturally, the men making up these crews were a special breed and as such, drew a lot of attention from the civilian presses.
In this case a newspaper correspondent called Lieutenant Werner, has joined the boat for the duration of its mission. Events unfold from his point of view and so we can lose our misconceptions and innocence along with Werner. He has no responsibilities on board and is therefore under less stress that most, but at the same time he has nothing to distract him from the pressure of each enemy attack and the many fathoms of sea water over the sub.
Holding it all together, under terrifying conditions, is a single man. The captain is a scruffy, mildly cynical, bastion of strength. He deals calmly with almost any situation, drawing on a seemingly unlimited store of courage. He also uses this courage in the face his 1st Lieutenant, a goose-stepping Nazi loyalist, who disapproves of his captain's lack of respect for Hitler, the high command and much else about Germany's military efforts.
The film takes an even darker turn when, during the middle of their tour, the captain receives orders to commence a new mission; a mission which amounts to suicide. They are asked to enter the Mediterranean Sea via the Gibraltar Strait and make an attack on enemy shipping. The strait is very narrow and heavily monitored but the captain accepts his orders, devising a strategy that gives them at least some hope.
Not surprisingly, things go bad from the start. I'm not going into a blow by blow description. Suffice to say that every moment is chock full of dramatic tension and the relationships within the crew become more obvious with every crisis. In the end, the audience feels almost as exhausted as these brave men, which makes the final scenes even more powerful.
One warning for those that want to see this absorbing movie. Do not watch the dubbed version. In some versions, the voice acting is a joke and distracts form the story. Instead, stick to the subtitles. Trust me, you're not going to notice them.
Rating:
Summary: Perfect!
Review: Due to the length of other reviews and their great detail about the movie (which are very well written!) I will keep my review short. This movie is a must-see for anyone that loves military movies, submarine movies, and/or foreign films or just simply loves a great epic adventure. Simply put, this movie is well worth the time to watch it (directors cut is 209 minutes) and you will be very impressed. Also, I recommend that you watch it in German with the subtitles on. The movie, in my opinion, is must more effective in German.
Rating:
Summary: Best war film ever?
Review: "Das Boot" is certainly one of the most exciting, moving and involving films about combat (here in a particularly intense theatre of war) ever made, and also one of the great stories of the sea. Acting, camerawork, dialogue and direction are all superb. We grow to know the characters so well and to be at times stomach-churningly involved in their bleak yet heroic ordeal.In this respect and others it shares some interesting similarities to "The Wages of Fear", especially the ending. How it was overlooked for any gong at all at the Oscars is baffling and pitiful. A masterpiece - you have to see it!
Rating:
Summary: DVD is the only way to go for Das Boot
Review: I have watched this 2 1/2 times so far (in 2 days)! You can watch w/the original German (english subs on/off) or dubbed or w/director's & actor's commentary. Also, this has to be the best-dubbed film in history - mainly because most of the main actors did both the german & english versions. I have no idea why the sound didn't get a 5 rating, it's just the best - the attention to detail is amazing. I've been listening with headphones and you are INSIDE that damn U-boot. This has been called anti-war but for a much more subtle reason than Platoon or Private Ryan - sorry you won't see cow-guts exploding across the screen. You get inside this crew and it turns out they're pretty much just like an American or British sub crew, just speaking a different language. You find yourself rooting for the "wrong" side (the germans) - then asking yourself who's on the "right" side? Watch for the scene where the captain realises the crew of a British ship which has been burning for hours hasn't been rescued by any friendlies - he realises the brass on BOTH sides have no idea what's really going on.
Rating:
Summary: Best combat film ever!
Review: In my lifetime, I've seen a number of truly great war films: "Saving Private Ryan", "The Longest Day", "Patton", "Run Silent, Run Deep", "Bridge On the River Kwai", "Glory", "A Bridge Too Far". Preeminent among them, even above "Saving Private Ryan", is "Das Boot (The Boat)", the extraordinary tale of a German U-boat's sortie into the Atlantic during World War II. What makes the film phenomenal is the way in which life in combat undersea is recreated: cramped, smelly, damp, uncomfortable, decidedly dangerous. Especially effective is the apparently accurate reconstruction of a U-boat's interior that serves as the set. When the Kapitän orders a crash dive, and the crew members rush forward to the boat's bow to increase the dive angle, the cameraman follows behind as they run the length of the sub through small hatchways and narrow crew spaces. It's a miracle the cameraman didn't crack his head, or the lens of his hand-held camera, on the sill of a hatch. (Maybe he did!)Though this is a German crew whose duty is to sink Allied ships, American viewers will have no problem sympathizing with its members when the depth charges begin to fall. Early on, the almost anti-Nazi attitude of the U-boat's Offiziers is apparent. (This may have been a marketing ploy by the film's producers to increase worldwide appeal. However, of all the German military services during WWII, the Kriegsmarine is considered to have been the least Nazified.) In any case, when the sub is ordered to surreptitiously rendezvous with a cargo ship that was intentionally interned in a neutral port for the purpose of U-boat supply and replenishment, the more politically correct officers of the supply vessel invite the U-boat's officers aboard to partake of a lavish buffet. As the former "Sieg Heil!" and exclaim how tough war is, the latter's' disdain for their Kameraden is readily apparent. The nightmare of undersea warfare is grippingly portrayed. After a very narrow escape for our heroes, we cheer when the sub limps back to port near the end of the movie. This relief soon turns to sorrow and horror at the film's ironic conclusion. There is no female lead in this production, no romantic interludes, and nothing to soften the hard, gritty reality of men at war. It's definitely a Guy Flick, but none the less excellent for being such. It's most assuredly one of my All-Time Ten Best movies.
Rating:
Summary: A DVD Review
Review: One of the best restorations of an older film around. All great movies 20+ years old should be redone this well. The sound was re-taped to 8 tracks and the extra footage, over an hour, was seamless. The documentary was only 6 minutes long and was more of a trailer for the restored Director's Cut version. The commentary is very good with the director commenting on the film plus you get Jürgen Prochnow, the Captain, commenting on his experience making the film and the producer of the restored version commenting on the restoration process. You learn some really interesting stuff about the actors, locations and other fascinating facts about this film that was over a year in production. A great DVD to add to any collection.
Rating:
Summary: Grab the Popcorn!
Review: Das Boot is one of the best World War II movies I have ever seen. The ending will suprise you. You won't believe it.
Rating:
Summary: Cramped quarters...
Review: Now here is an interesting idea. Make a movie about World War 2 yet have it done from the perspective of the bad guys. This fine film follows the trials and victories, (which weren't good for the Allies of course), of a Nazi submarine crew on one of their missions to win the war. It's long and subtitled but what's wrong with that? Most of the film takes place aboard the cramped, claustraphobic quarters aboard the submarine and one scene involves an uncontrolled sinking of the sub to unbearable watery depths. My fists were clenched when I first saw it. Would they make it? Well, rent the DVD and see. Although I passionately hate the whole Nazi Ideal, the film actually makes you see that many of these guys had families and sweethearts and lives to go back to as well as the Allies. Many were young kids who were fighting for what they thought was right. As a result, I couldn't help but feel some sympathy for them at times. I'm just sorry they were fighting on the side of evil. Wolfgang Petersen has done a great job with this film and the release of the "director's cut" a few years back was a wonderful idea. The movie gets a little draggy in some spots but overall it's great stuff!
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