DAS BOOT Movie Review

The Boat

1981 Wolfgang Petersen

No other submarine film comes close to Wolfgang Petersen's epic. As far as undersea warfare goes, it is Gone with the Wind, Citizen Kane, and Casablanca combined. The 150-minute theatrical release was a commercial success, but on video, the full-length director's cut is a marvel. Based on Lothar Buchheim's autobiographical novel, the film tells the story of the final voyage of U-96.

The war is almost over, and Allied sea power has turned the tide. Where the U-boat packs once terrorized convoys, the submarines are now prey to quick destroyers with more accurate depth charges. They have suffered terrible losses—a foreword states that of the 40,000 men who served in U-boats, 30,000 were lost—and now many of the crew members are teenagers. “I feel ancient around these kids, like I'm on some Children's Crusade,” the Captain (Juergen Prochnow) says. He's a veteran who tries to do his job despite the overwhelming odds.

After a night of drunken celebrations, the boat stocks up with provisions—sausages and meats hang from every available space—and the freshly scrubbed sailors embark. It doesn't take long for all ideas of heroism to be replaced by survival. From stormy seas to relentless destroyers to crab lice, everything is out to get them. What sets the film apart from all others is the almost life-like cinematic reality it creates. For three hours, the viewer is inside that boat with the men.

That harrowing sense of claustrophobia is created by incredible sets, one built to the actual dimensions of a German sub, another mounted on a gimbal so that it could be tilted at any angle. They're complemented by superb tank shots of the conning tower in bad weather and equally believable miniature effects by Ernest Wild. All of the effects are so detailed that use of models is virtually undetectable. Most of the credit, though, must go to Petersen and director of photography Jost Vacano, whose work with a handheld camera earned an Academy Award nomination. Their efforts combine to create the physical reality of the undersea world; the actors, almost all of them unknown outside Germany, create the emotional reality, and that is just as important.

This is a film about men who are pushed to the breaking point and then beyond it. How do they deal with overpowering hopelessness? What form will their surrender or disintegration take? Petersen uses the extended running time to give the men long silent scenes which make their fear absolutely believable. With so much going on, little room is left for politics. Even so, the film has been criticized from opposing quarters for being pro-Nazi and anti-Nazi. It's neither. It is about men who are trying to sink ships and kill people while other people are trying to sink their ship and kill them. Perhaps Petersen could have made a more strident anti-fascist statement, but such revisionism is hypocritical at best, considering the factual nature of the source material. (By all accounts, like Noel Coward's In Which We Serve, the story is strongly based in truth.)

So, forget politics. Forget categories. Das Boot is simply one of the great war films.

Cast: Juergen Prochnow (The Captain), Herbert Gronemeyer (Lt. Werner), Klaus Wennemann (Chief Engineer), Hubertus Bengsch (1st Lieutenant), Martin Semmelrogge (2nd Lieutenant), Bernd Tauber (Chief Quartermaster), Erwin Leder (Johann), Martin May (Ull-man), Heinz Honig (Hinrich), Uwe Ochsenknecht (Chief Bosun), Claude-Oliver Rudolph (Ario), Jan Fedder (Pilgrim), Ralph Richer (Frenssen), Joachim Bernhard (Precher), Oliver Stritzel (Schwalle), Konrad Becker (Bockstiegel), Lutz Schnell (Dufte), Martin Hemme (Bruckenwilli), Rita Cadillac (Monique); Written by: Wolfgang Petersen; Cinematography by: Jost Vacano; Music by: Klaus Doldinger; Technical Advisor: Karlheinz Bohm. Producer: Bavaria Atelier Gmbh, Columbia Pictures, Gunter Rohrback. German.. Awards: Nominations: Academy Awards ‘82: Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Cinematography, Best Director (Petersen), Best Film Editing, Best Sound. MPAA Rating: R. Running Time: 210 minutes. Format: VHS, Beta, LV, DVD.