Once in a great while, a film is released that is truly groundbreaking in its genre. For the war film category, Das Boot was truly a watershed for American moviegoers. Released initially in theatres in 1981 as a 149 minute film, it was expanded to a six-hour mini-series in 1985 for broadcast over West German television. Directed by Wolfgang Peterson (Air Force One), the film was important in that it approached World War II through the German point of view.
Das Boot tells the story of the U-96, a German submarine (the U is for untersee, literally under water) operating in the North Atlantic against the British. The main characters are the captain (played by Jürgen Prochnow in what is arguably his greatest role) and Lieutenant Werner (German pop star Herbert Gronemeyer), a reporter assigned to cover the adventures of a U-boat crew for the newspapers back in Germany. The film is based on the novel by Lothar Günther Buchheim, who actually sailed on the U-96 in 1941 as a journalist correspondent. Fortunately for Buchheim, his tenure aboard U-96 was much more peaceful than that of Lieutenant Werner.
Though I don’t recall the captain being named in the film, the actual captain of the U-96 at the time was Heinrich Lehmann-Willenbrock. Since he was the captain when Buchheim sailed aboard the U-96, it is likely that Prochnow’s character is at least in part based on Willenbrock.
SOME HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE
Serving on a U-boat was not an occupation with a bright future during World War II. The crews had an atrocious casualty rate that only got worse as the war went on and anti-submarine warfare became more advanced. Out of a total of 1154 boats that served at various times throughout the war, losses were as follows:
1939 9
1940 24
1941 35
1942 87
1943 242
1944 253
1945 120
Still, the U-boat was the backbone of the Kriegsmarine (German navy). Being a continental power, the Germans did not need to control the seas, but they did need to prevent men and materiel coming from America from reaching Britain.
THE FILM
From it’s memorable underwater opening sequence of a U-boat emerging into view amidst the strains of Klaus Doldinger’s haunting motif to the extremely ironic ending, Das Boot will take hold of you and never let go.
The characters are real and believable. They were the enemy, but we can identify with them. They just want to fight for their country and survive, and their all-too-human reactions to the situations they find themselves in put this notion across quite effectively. The sequences during which the U-boat is submerged and under attack by enemy destroyers are brilliant and gripping.
At one point, the captain orders his boat deeper and deeper to escape two British destroyers hunting him. You can literally cut the tension with a knife as he orders the boat to submerge deeper than it’s limits and the immense water pressure begins to pop bolts across the boat like bullets. It seems he would prefer death at the hands of the sea to defeat by the enemy. The acting is simply superb here, and we’re given an education on just how horrible it must have been to face death trapped 200 meters below the surface of the ocean.
At the same time, we’re shown that these are not inhuman monsters manning the U-boat, but human beings with human reactions. When the U-boat finally surfaces after escaping the best efforts of the British destroyers to sink it, the sky is lit red with fire from a burning freighter. The captain orders it torpedoed to finish it off. After a tremendous explosion, men begin jumping off the decks of the doomed ship into the ocean. The captain is outraged; the British have had hours to rescue their crew. Painfully aware that there is no room for prisoners on a cramped U-boat, the captain orders his boat backed away from the freighter’s crew who will now surely drown. Crewmen weep as he does so.
It’s scenes such as these that make the film work so well. The best movies are those that make you feel like you are involved in what’s going on. They make us forget reality, even if just for a few moments, and put ourselves in the situation we’re watching. What would we do? How would we react? Das Boot does this, and does it well.
DAS BOOT (THE BOAT)
As much a character of the film as any of the human actors is the boat itself, U-96. Whether cruising underwater or crashing through the waves on the surface, submerging or surfacing, attacking or under attack, the U-96 itself is an object of our concern, especially in the last few minutes of the film. A combination of models and two full-sized replicas built expressly for the film accomplish this.
THE DVD
This is the director’s cut. The audio tracks have been digitally re-mastered, and a full hour of extra footage has been restored to it, making the film three and a half hours long. Language options are the original German (which I prefer), dubbed English, or Spanish. Subtitles can be displayed in English, Spanish, French, or not at all. Dolby 5.1 is available for English or German. English can also be heard through Dolby Surround.
DVD Extra features include a making-of documentary and director’s commentary. The picture is of course spectacular. I feel the extra footage adds to the film, though as is usually the case you can sometimes go crazy trying to remember whether a certain scene was in the original version.
CLOSING
This is a must-see film. If I had to draw up a list of my top ten all time favorite movies, Das Boot would be near the top, and for many reasons. It’s a gripping, thought-provoking look at war through the eyes of the enemy. As it turns out, he’s not so different from us after all.
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