BrianKoller's Full Review: Boot - The Director's Cut
In 1981, Wolfgang Petersen filmed a six hour mini-series for German television, "Das Boot". (You probably knew this already, but the title is German for "The Boat"). The footage was re-edited and the narration dropped for the two and a half hour theatrical version. In 1997, an extra hour was restored for the "Director's Cut".
The version I saw was that from 1997, but unfortunately dubbed in English. In addition to replacing the voices of the original actors, it also creates an unwanted distraction of seeing mouths moving to different words, at different times. If you can avoid watching the mouths, however, it shouldn't greatly affect the film's grade. After all, how many people in the States have seen the Italian versions of Sergio Leone's 1960s westerns?
But getting back to Das Boot, the film may be guilty of some revisionist history. It is true that the heyday for U-Boats was in 1940, and by 1941 the English were better able to protect their shipping. But the anti-Nazi polemics from the officers seem more intended to placate modern political correctness than to reflect historical reality.
By the summer of 1941, the German Army occupied all of Europe that had been hostile to them. The United States was still on the sidelines. Hitler was confident enough to invade Russia in June. Although the tide would turn in 1942, and Hitler's actions have since deservedly made him history's most despised figure, Germany's military success up to that point was unprecedented. The Captain's frequent praise of British valor and contempt of Nazi leaders don't quite ring true. Although tedium, cramped quarters, and filthy living conditions would embitter anybody.
The story is that of a German U-Boat. The experienced captain is sympathetically played by Jurgen Prochnow. The crew, nearly all idealistic teenagers and young men, become greatly changed by the privations of the mission. These include crabs, which spread quickly among the unwashed, unshaved sailors.
The submarine is on the hunt for British shipping freighters, but wary of destroyers, which have cannons and can drop 'depth charge' bombs. The crew's mood ranges from boredom to euphoria to despair as their fortunes change. To evade destruction, the U-Boat must occasionally reach ocean depths greater than it was designed for, risking becoming crushed by the pressure.
Character development isn't the film's strength. The Captain stands out, as does an engine room worker who has a nervous breakdown (Erwin Leder). One of the officers is fond of wisecracks, another is an ardent Nazi, another is a journalist (Herbert Gronemeyer). After a while, though, they all look like young sailors with unkempt beards. Admittedly, that is the role they are playing, but it doesn't make it any easier to tell them apart.
But the production values are outstanding. Several U-Boats of varying sizes were constructed for the film, including two full-sized versions. Most of the scenes take place within the submarine, and were filmed from within the cramped quarters. For the action scenes, the cast had to learn how to navigate their way through the U-Boat as if it were a timed obstacle course.
The sound effects are also excellent. Much of the tension of the encounters with destroyers comes from straining to hear the radar pings of the enemy ship, and its deadly depth charges.
Das Boot was nominated for six Academy Awards, an unusual number for a foreign language film. Wolfgang Petersen was nominated for both Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Director. Other nominated categories included cinematography (Jost Vacano), editing (Hannes Nikel), sound, and sound effects (Mike Le-Mare). Petersen has since become a commercially successful director of Hollywood action films (Air Force One, The Perfect Storm). (77/100)
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