 Tagline: This is the story of 42 raw recruits caught up in a war they didn't understand, and the Captain who must lead them in their struggle to survive. --- The Director's Cut Special Edition (1985) --- At the height of WWII, a young submarine crew heads out to sea on a top-secret mission that all but ensures most will never make it home alive. Ordered to patrol the Atlantic and destroy an allied armada bringing supplies to Britain, these raw recruits must band together, bracing themselves against a depth-charge assault from an unseen enemy. Oscar-nominated director Wolfgang Petersen's epic adventure deftly explores tension as pressure builds to an explosive climax, packing a visceral punch few movies can match. Storyline: It is 1942 and the German submarine fleet is heavily engaged in the so called "Battle of the Atlantic" to harass and destroy British shipping. With better escorts of the Destroyer Class, however, German U-Boats have begun to take heavy losses. "Das Boot" is the story of one such U-Boat crew, with the film examining how these submariners maintained their professionalism as soldiers, attempted to accomplish impossible missions, while all the time attempting to understand and obey the ideology of the government under which they served. Written by Anthony Hughes Reviewer's Note: Reviewed by Martin Liebman on June 29, 2011 -- Will we ever see some action? In Das Boot, it matters not which uniform the men wear. Traditional historic and cinematic antagonists become the heroic protagonists because they're painted as real human beings, caught up in a situation where, it seems, they fight more to survive than they do for an ideal they may or may not hold true. Das Boot is superficially a World War II Submarine picture, but it is at its center a far greater picture that deals in the human condition under the greatest of stresses, at times when all those symbols they wear and the allegiances they pledge become only tertiary background elements in a much larger picture and puzzle. As such, it is perhaps the ultimate War film, for it portrays war as devastating not just to materials and the physical bodies of men, but damaging to their very essences, too, at a level where, indeed, basic humanity and the struggle to survive reigns supreme over any and all external elements that might shape, but rarely ever completely destroy, the deepest and most human of all traits that are shared across boarders, uniforms, and time. As World War II rages on through bloody land battles across Europe and North Africa, the battle for control of the seas is shifting to the Allied powers. The Germans fear that their losses in the Atlantic will more easily allow for enemy troop reinforcements and resupplies, and she's turning to younger, less experienced submarine, or U-Boat, crews to take on the battle-hardened, technologically advanced, and deadly British navy. Nazi War Correspondent Lt. Werner (Herbert Grönemeyer) is assigned to the German U-Boat U-96 to cover the crew's efforts in the Atlantic. As the men drill and settle into the cramped, wet, uncomfortable life aboard the boat and gel into a cohesive unit, they come to feel prepared for and excited to enter combat against the Brits. When the ship's Captain (Jürgen Prochnow) receives word that a British Destroyer has been spotted, he attacks but is driven away by the deadly barrage of depth charges that threaten to tear the ship apart. With the crew on edge and growing ever uncertain in their ability to survive another attack, they must nevertheless press onward towards either victory or certain death at the bottom of the cold Atlantic. They say history is written by the victors, and in most cases film portrays the victors as personable, identifiable, or at the very least succinctly-developed heroes, while painting their former enemies as faceless and mindless barbarians who fight as if robots with no real emotional attachment to either their causes, the lives they live in war, and the existences they left behind. Das Boot, however, humanizes the conflict from the side of the defeated, introducing characters who speak, bleed, and feel as does every human being, for ultimately their differences with their antagonists -- here the British Navy -- are but matters of personal circumstance and happenstance, their fight mandated by the state but their personal grudges against their adversaries hardly those of vicious barbarians with no moral compass and a compassionless soul. Indeed, it's refreshing to be reminded that human emotions are not lost to half the combatants. German-born Director Wolfgang Petersen writes and directs Das Boot with an even hand, focusing solely on the men who man a Nazi submarine, but politics rarely enter into the picture and are more or less brushed off when they do. The film is instead a riveting examination of people existing in extraordinary circumstances, people who fear and weep and pray for themselves and their enemies, people who are as real and of many of the same beliefs and values as any other. That's certainly not to champion the cause for which they fight, but it is to champion the greatness of humankind as it exists beyond politics, symbols, and other divisive entities. Das Boot is an extraordinary depiction of war, but more importantly it's a far more extraordinary depiction of man. Das Boot proves to be a superior War picture in its broader, more superficial context, though that's certainly not the film's primary focus from an existential perspective. It very effectively creates the sensation of living, fighting, fearing, and perhaps even dying on a World War II submarine. Not only must the men carry out their daily functions in incredibly cramped quarters, they must wade through a maze of men, materials, bulkheads, and even foods to repair the ship, report to battle stations, and carry out other assorted duties. Wolfgang Petersen's camera is an entryway into the oftentimes emotionally horrific and physically challenging world where the enemy often goes unseen, instead only faintly heard but harshly felt when depth charges rock the submarine to its core. The picture squeezes out an immeasurable amount of tension from the absolute fear created by the men's silence as they can only stand with eyes upwards towards an unseen surface where they believe men and literally tons upon tons of steel await to destroy them. Few movies may claim so much tension from so little action, but that's part of what makes Das Boot -- and other superior Submarine pictures -- so effective: the anticipation of action, the blindness of the situation, and the understanding that only a timely maneuver, a gut instinct, or a stroke of luck can save them. Das Boot is an incredible success of pure filmmaking, too, and that it's almost as technically prolific as it is visually satisfying and emotionally gripping is a testament to the completeness of the project and Director Wolfgang Petersen's raw talent as a writer and director. That he manages to keep the movie fresh -- even at well over three hours in length -- is a great strength, for the movie can be fairly repetitive in look, feel, and action, though it never plays as such. The camera effortlessly maneuvers through the tight and confined spaces, furthering the feelings of pure adrenaline and frayed nerves whether the action is in kinetic overdrive or culled from the tension that floats through the boat with startling realism. The picture even surpasses the language barrier, for it speaks in thematic and emotional absolutes; the specifics of the dialogue don't seem nearly as important as the context in which they are spoken. The performances are revealing and absorbing, too; whether when the men drunkenly parade about before sailing into battle or when they're huddled quietly together with fear in their guts and certain pending death plastered on their filthy, sweaty, unshaved faces, one cannot help but awe at the frightening wartime authenticity every last actor emotes. Finally, Das Boot features a stellar score that in many ways makes the movie. It's energetic at times and somber at others, effortlessly playing through the film's every ebb and flow and reinforcing each emotion, as varied as they are from one moment to the next. Das Boot is perhaps the greatest tale of War ever told from the other side with the possible exception of Erich Maria Remarque's All Quiet on the Western Front. They succeed not because of their depictions of combat, but their depictions of humanity. They serve as reminders that in war there are real people fighting on both sides, people who share many of the same values and beliefs, people who feel and think and pray and fear as do the men they fight. This is Das Boot's real strength, and it's only accentuated by the amazing technical achievements and Director Wolfgang Petersen's uncanny storytelling ability. Das Boot is certainly one of the great War pictures of them all, an important film that's far, far more than its admittedly enthralling superficialities. Sony's Blu-ray release of Das Boot isn't perfect, and it's sure to scare off audiences in search of a copy of the film that's looks shiny and new. The 1080p transfer is rough around the edges but holds up well enough, and the lossless soundtrack is loud and invigorating but not always perfectly clear. A lengthy and detailed assortment of extras add plenty of additional value to the package. Viewers with reasonable and realistic expectations should be quite pleased, though many probably won't be wholly satisfied with this release. Still, all things considered -- particularly the quality of the movie -- Das Boot comes highly recommended. Cast Notes: Jürgen Prochnow (Capt.-Lt. Henrich Lehmann-Willenbrock - Der Alte), Herbert Grönemeyer (Lt. Werner - Correspondent), Klaus Wennemann (Chief Engineer Fritz Grade - Der Leitende-Der LI), Hubertus Bengsch (1st Lieutenant - Number One-1WO), Martin Semmelrogge (2nd Lieutenant - 2WO), Bernd Tauber (Kriechbaum - Chief Quartermaster-Navigator), Erwin Leder (Johann), Martin May (Ullman), Heinz Hoenig (Hinrich [as Heinz Hönig]), Uwe Ochsenknecht (Chief Bosun), Claude-Oliver Rudolph (Ario), Jan Fedder (Pilgrim), Ralf Richter (Frenssen [as Ralph Richter]), Joachim Bernhard (Preacher), Oliver Stritzel (Schwalle). User Comment: Sam Haines from San Antonio, Texas, 7 July 2000 • Take it from a real submariner,on modern "boats" life isn't easy- but compared to the living hell that the German U-Boats were, modern submariners have nothing to complain about. People in certain professions don't like to watch movies about those professions (Doctors and Nurses shy away from hospital dramas, for example). Submarine sailors are different. We love to watch every submarine movie ever made, from "Run Silent, Run Deep" and "Destination: Tokyo" to "The Hunt For Red October", "Crimson Tide" and "U-571". Why? Because we can always use a good laugh. For those in the know, submarine movies are usually absolutely hilarious. Except this one. After being in the Navy for four years, serving with around 350 different men, and being acquainted with a further 200-300, all of them submarine sailors, I think that I can state with absolute certainty that this film is the ONLY submarine movie that ALL submariners take seriously. And that is the highest praise a movie like this can possibly get. Summary: Take it from a real submariner...
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