Das Boot

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: A masterpiece of cinema story telling and acting
Review: Wolfgang Peterson's 'Das Boot' has deservedly received many accolades. This film is without equal - so far as the genre goes. It is thoroughly gripping to watch, absolutely brilliant acting, matched by superb directing. The film - for the most part confined to the insides of a beleagured German U-boot with its crew - is so realistic, it seems like a crime to stop for tea or visit the toilet. You can almost feel the dripping, dank, breathless atmosphere of the U-boat. The sense of despair written over faces, as rivets begin to pop and explode through excessive water pressure upon the creaking hull- drives home the cruel irony of the hunter - having turned into the hunted.

Claustrophobic, under-water dread, is relieved by surfacing - only to face other miseries. Perhaps the 'lightest' moment or sequence, is when the U-boat runs the gauntlet for La Spezia, under the very noses of the Royal Navy - part of it in a daring surface dash. Even when 'things are going well' (according to "orders") for a U-boat on active service, the captain and a few of the crew watch aghast, looking helplessly upon the short-lived 'survivors' of a torpedoed merchant ship as it goes down - in icy waters, surrounded by flames. Nothing in this film glorifies war. (The opening scenes show a pre-sorty party on land, with a drunken U-boat crew member lapsing into cynical comments about the Fuhrer). Jurgen Prochnow excells himself as the captain of this fated U-boat. He knows the irony of his situation. He knows the cruel consequences of his job - all round, but does his best to maintain the morale of his crew. Generally, U-boats have a bad image - sinking relatively helpless merchant ships is cruel and deep down, it goes against the grain of any man who takes to sea - including U-boat captains.

In many 'popular' post-war images, U-boat captains were depicted as monocled, thin lipped murderers, uttering an inhuman, metallic chuckle, as merchant ship falls victim to torpedo attack. The other side of the picture, is that - by the time radar and sonar came into full use with destroyer escorts protecting convoys, going on a U-boat mission was virtually a death sentence. Not a matter of 'if' you would be killed - but only of 'when.' Jurgen Prochnow plays a U-boat captain with daring - yes, but it is tempered by an underlying ambivalence. He sees that all parties involved - are victims. This feeling is shared by the entire U-boat crew. The tragic sense of life therefore supervenes. This is capped by the denoument of the whole story - when the U-boat is bombed on the way back into to its pen. Perhaps, more than any other single film, Das Boot captures the feeling tone of the post-war mind-set in Germany as regards the futility and horror of war. The haunting theme music added poignancy. This is film-art at its superlative best.

Rating:
Summary: This movie gets longer with every release.
Review: The wacky adventures of a german submarine crew.

Rating:
Summary: Average
Review: This movie was not as good as I thought it would be. I love WW2 history, and I enjoy seeing the other side's perspective but this movie just didn't do much for me. For one, it was extremely long and after a couple hours, I was wondering when it would be over. There were also long stretches that were just boring to me. Maybe I'm biased because I'm more of an army/land battle fan, but there's just not much that can happen when you're in a boat. Anyway, navy lovers would probably enjoy this more than me.

Rating:
Summary: Accuracy
Review: A superb movie. It is interesting to note that the German crew considered the Royal Navy to be their greatest threat and not the American navy, I suppose it will be only a matter of time befor Hollywood rewrites the story in the same way that it rewrites history to cater for its home audience (U571)

Rating:
Summary: Outstanding--in the original language
Review: Plenty of other reviews here, so I'm going to limit myself to one recommendation--watch this superb movie in German, with the English subtitles. Don't watch it dubbed in English. Thankfully, I watched it in the original language first (and, as always seems to be the case for me when a movie is really good, promptly forgot I was even reading subtitles). Later, I saw it dubbed in English & it was an astonishing experience--it really weakened the movie for me. See the original. The claustrophobia and the sense of the stakes involved are tremendous in this very, very powerful movie.

Rating:
Summary: You have to have good men. Good men, all of them.
Review: If I had the time to take this movie door-to-door and sit down with everyone in America to watch this film, I would. Everyone needs to realize that I have a fascination with submarine films. I loved The Hunt for Red October and Crimson Tide. Both of them rank as my top action films. I don't know why I love this genre so much. I think it has to do somewhat with my passion for sci-fi. The ocean is almost like fighting in another world. So many times we have seen wars play out on land, and while there is only so much you can show with a land fight, the war field on the open sea allows for so much more creativity.

Director Wolfgang Peterson gives us some great characters. While not much dialogue happens in this film, you can see everyone's expressions on their faces, and those expressions tell better stories than words. You can see their fear, their excitement, their sadness, and their power by just the way that Peterson directs them. With his direction, I felt that I was on this U-Boat with the crew. Peterson perfectly portrays a feeling of crampness and claustrophobia wrapped together as one. I think that during one of the bombing scenes I broke a sweat because of what was happening on screen.

Finally, I am also a fan of films that tell a different angle on the story. So many years I have watched war movie after war movie that show the victorious American's beating the classic "evil-doers". Now don't get me wrong, these are fun sometimes, but I love to see a different angle. In history class we didn't learn about the casualties of the Germans in WWII. We learn about them as a statistic, and never put these heroes on a human level. This film humanizes the German's conditions during the war. The Germans are human being also, who fought for their country just as valiantly as our soldiers did during WWII. They had families, they had pasts, they had homes that they left to become a part of history. To fight for your beliefs. That is what America teaches us, fight for what we believe in....doesn't it?

I could talk about this for hours, but instead I am going to sit back, relax, and tell you how wonderful Das Boot was to watch. I have not been this entertained for a long time. Bravo to everyone involved in this film. I think it IS the best war film ever released (that I have seen). I want everyone to get out of their seats this weekend and go rent this movie. I guarantee that you will not be disappointed.

Grade: ***** out of *****

Rating:
Summary: Dont make a movie movie glorifying Germans in the US.
Review: They got what they deserved, remember the Germans were fighting so they could kill all the Jews and take over the world, why would we want them to live? WE DONT. Maybe if i was German or they movie was about Americans i could realte, but im sorry they deserved worse then what they got. Its too long, it doesnt have enough action, no drama, the score is bad, the acting is boderline soap opera, and the dialogue is perverted. U571 is better but not much, if your looking for a better Wolfgang film check out Troy (a great great great film) its a million times better, if you want a better war movie check out Saving Private Ryan of course, its the best war movie ever made. 4 out of a 10 for this.

Rating:
Summary: Yes, a really great movie
Review: I rarely buy movies. I rarely sit through long movies. I never re-watch movies.

"Das Boot" was totally different, I happened by it on late night TV (the full director's cut).
I was not bored for one minute. It was 209 minutes long and it felt shorter than some crappy 30minute shows I've seen.
It was such a great movie, I actually bought the DVD (for the record, I only own 4 DVD's, this is one of them).

Some people say it's a war movie or submarine movie. I think it's really a movie about people. It just happens to take place at war, in a submarine.

Yes, amazing, nearly the whole movie takes place within the cramped confines of a U-Boat and I was not bored...

Really a great film!

Rating:
Summary: Not your average war movie
Review: I might be young but I still know a good film when I see it. This is a war movie but it's not. With alot of great war films there has been extreme violence and even though realistic I dont always need to see a head blown off or leg or what ever. can live with out. Das Boot on the other hand has violence yes this is a war film but relies on more suspense and what you hear or maybe even worse what you dont hear. this movie is for people who like suspense films, war films or just a great drama. Dont past this movie up if you get a chance to see it. Also watch the film in german with subtitles it amazing how different the film is dubbed.