Das Boot
Year: 1981
Film Studio: Columbia Pictures, Bavaria Film
Genre: War, Classic, Drama
Length: 293 Min.
DirectorWolfgang Petersen (1941)
WritingLothar G. Buchheim (1918)...Original Material By
Wolfgang Petersen (1941)...Writer
ProducerMichael Bittins
Günter Rohrbach (1928)
CinematographerJost Vacano (1934)
MusicKlaus Doldinger (1936)...Composer
StarsJürgen Prochnow (1941) as Capt.-Lt. Henrich Lehmann-Willenbrock -
Herbert Grönemeyer (1956) as Lt. Werner - Correspondent
Klaus Wennemann (1940) as Chief Engineer Fritz Grade - Der Leitend
Hubertus Bengsch (1952) as 1st Lieutenant - Number One-1WO
Martin Semmelrogge (1955) as 2nd Lieutenant - 2WO
Bernd Tauber (1950) as Kriechbaum - Chief Quartermaster-Navigat
Erwin Leder (1951) as Johann
Martin May (1961) as Ullman
Review Of all the men who fought during World War II, none were braver than the sailors who lurked beneath the waves in the U-boats of the Third Reich. They were considered the elite of the Nazi war machine and would be decorated for their valor after a successful sortie with a personal audience with de Fuehrer, Adolf Hitler. While the conventional soldier faced relatively good odds of survival when cast onto a battlefield, a submariner in the Kriegsmarine knew that his chances of survival in an Atlantic wolf-pack were 1 in 4. In the beginning of the war, the Nazi’s enjoyed widespread success on land, upon the seas and in the air. But when Hitler turned his gaze away from the Western powers and attacked Communist Russia, the fortunes of Germany began its slow spiral into Hell. Being a predominantly land-locked nation, its surface fleet was no match for the combined strengths of the Allied British and American fleets. To combat this imbalance, they turned to the one weapon that had brought Germany much success in the Great War, the U-Boat. Under the leadership of Karl Dönitz, a one time U-boat captain in WW I, the Nazi’s perfected the concept of locating an Allied convoy and forming into wolf-packs to decimate the cargo ships that were Great Britain’s lifeline.
Das Boot recounts the danger and drudgery that a submariner on a U-boat at sea in the North Atlantic faced on a day-to-day basis. From the icy waters of the Iceland straits to the constant fear of being detected by either the Royal Navy or Air Force, director Wolfgang Petersen recreates the conditions that every crew of a type-7 U-boat faced in their submerged, claustrophobic world, painting a picture of the endless monotony endured waiting for convoys. The tedium being broken frequently by a cry of
Alarm!, which forces the crew into a ballet of motion, synchronized and rehearsed repeatedly to ensure their survival in these most vulnerable of war machines. Where Petersen’s rendition of life at sea differs from Hollywood’s clichéd themes is in his approach to the subject matter at hand. The film doesn’t come to a battle scene until well over an hour into the story, leaving the viewer to witness and participate in the boredom that prevailed in their dutiful missions at sea. Now I’m not saying that this first hour is dull, quite the contrary, its character development sets the stage for the remarkable scope of detail portrayed when the sub is under attack.
The film opens in a brothel as the crews regale in every form of debauchery that can be imagined, before setting to sea in the early dawn. As the ship leaves its French port, the faces of the crew reflect a youthful and exuberant naïveté, as they are eager to taste battle and to return as heroes in the eyes of their countrymen. When the first mission is completed and they return to their homeport, the trauma they have endured alters their appearance and ages them dramatically. As newly cast veterans, the glamorous and chivalrous notion that each of them harbored before their first journey has now been replaced with a heaping measure of acrimony towards their role in Germany’s quest for
‘Lebensraum’. Thus, an alternating cycle of drunken depravity and fear flooded sorties takes place and each time the crew returns, a little bit more of their humanity is swept away. In the end, they will become hollow apparitions whose only resemblance to man, is in their physical appearance.
War films are not to everyone’s taste, but
Das Boot transcends almost all of the mundane movies in this most skewed and derided of genres. If you are the type who likes war films to be the insipid ilk that are patriotic, gung-ho and grisly bacchanals, then you have picked the wrong film to watch. If on the other hand, you enjoy a tense emotion packed drama that delves into the curious fascination are species has with killing our fellow man in the name of honor and country, and the futility that it fosters, then
Das Boot is right up your alley. Of the countless scores of propaganda, patriotic, anti-war and human study films that have been made in this genre,
Das Boot is the best.
Review Criterion5 Stars - The pinnacle of film perfection and excellence.4 ½ Stars - Not quite an immortal film, yet a masterpiece in its own right.
4 Stars - Historically important film, considered a classic.
3 ½ Stars - An entertaining film that’s fun or engaging to watch.
3 Stars – A good film that’s worth a Netflix venture.
2 ½ Stars - Borderline viewable.
2 Stars – A bad film that may have a moment of interest.
1 ½ Stars – Insipid, trite and sophomoric, and that's its good points.
1 Star – A film so vacuous, it will suck 2 hours from the remainder of your life.
½ Star - A gangrenous and festering pustule in the chronicles of celluloid.
