![]() Most of the action takes place inside but we occasionally see the U-Boot from outside, see how it silently glides through the waters, like a predator. I loved how this showed the hypocrisy of those officers who were true to the regime but not willing to actually fight for their country. Without ever being openly aggressive or rebellious, the crew sabotages the nice little dinner event by just being themselves- gruff looking, outspoken and past niceties. They are well-groomed, well-fed and beyond clueless when it comes to the battle in the Atlantic or what the crew has gone through. Spain is neutral territory and those stationed there have probably not seen any combat. The captain and his officers are invited to dine with the officers stationed in Vigo. It takes place just before they leave Vigo. But as suspenseful as this is, there’s another scene I like even better. The fight for the boat and, ultimately, for their lives, is one of the most gripping scenes in war movie history. The most exciting part is when they have to pass the straits of Gibraltar, get hit and sink rapidly. When they think they can finally return to La Rochelle after a few weeks, they are sent to Vigo in Spain, to resupply, and from there to Italy. ![]() They encounter destroyers and are shot at by planes. The second part of the series, is much more action packed. The captain lets them dive occasionally for an hour or two, just to give the men some rest. ![]() Most of the time the U-Boot doesn’t dive and in a storm it’s even shaken more badly than many other ships. The worst thing that happens is a three-week storm. The U-Boot gets in the line of fire of a destroyer but other than that it’s relatively quiet. Most of the characters are complex and likable and not exactly Nazis. The first half of the TV series doesn’t do much more than introduce the characters and the daily activities on a U-Boot. ![]() After watching this, without ever having been on a U-Boot, you’ll have a good idea of how claustrophobic this must have been and of how helpless the crew must have felt at times. We see a lot of the story through his eyes, and, as usual, when we have a young journalist/writer character like this among the crew, the movie is to some extent about the loss of innocence, the futility of war etc. But that’s the topic of many war movies, what makes Das Boot so outstanding is how carefully it’s been filmed, how accurate it is. He’s a lieutenant but inexperienced in combat, as it seems, and has never been on a U-Boot. This time, they have a war correspondent on board, Lt Werner (played by German singer/songwriter Herbert Grönemeyer). The crew members are mostly young, in their late teens and early twenties, only their captain is thirty years old. They are cheering, singing and looking forward to their mission. ![]() I’ve not seen the Director’s Cut, so it’s hard to compare but I really love the slow build-up of this version.ĭas Boot starts in 1941, in La Rochelle. Or, I’d even say, movies don’t get any better than this. I don’t think war movies get any better than this. I’m glad to say that after rewatching it, it’s still among my Top 10, even among my Top 3. When I started this blog I wrote a Top 10 favourite war movies list and Wolfgang Petersen’s Das Boot was one of them. I can’t believe I didn’t rewatch it earlier. Petersen is now back in Germany to make his first German-language film since Das Boot, a reworking of his 1976 TV movie Vier Gegen Die Bank.īavaria Film’s decision to produce both a feature film and, in 1985, an extended TV series version of Das Boot is a textbook example of mutually beneficial collaboration between film and television, which was recognised with a Bafta and International Emmy.I love this movie. Its success led to Petersen’s upward trajectory he shot $30m fantasy film The NeverEnding Story (1984) and sci-fi drama Enemy Mine (1985) at Munich’s Bavaria Film Studios, where Das Boot had been made, before moving to Los Angeles and blockbusters such as In The Line Of Fire (1993), Air Force One (1997) and Troy (2004). The mother of all submarine movies, Das Boot remains streets ahead of other nautical epics such as The Hunt For Red October (1990) or Crimson Tide (1995) thanks to its slick action sequences and unbearably claustrophobic tension.ĭirector Wolfgang Petersen even suggested that cinemas should provide sick bags as cinema-goers were likely to feel seasick - something he probably kept in mind when shooting The Perfect Storm (2000) and Poseidon (2006) in Hollywood with an array of digital effects at his disposal.īilled as Germany’s most expensive post-war film, Das Boot was seen by 20 million cinema-goers in 120 countries and grossed $22m, with $12m coming from the US alone (according to Mark Damon of Producers Sales Organisation). ![]()
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