Peterson's film, which received six Oscar nominations (this is amazing for a foreign film), utilizes meticulous attention to detail in every production aspect, from stellar cinematography that enhances the mood of the film with closed quarter and fast-paced boat-length shots to the haunting sound mix that captures, perhaps more vividly than any other film, the sounds of war and desperation. The emotions that transpire within the confines of the sub and the confines of this story are claustrophobic along with the action. The entire crew is confined in this small space throughout the film.first, in a sub at war, then a disabled sub, and, finally, in a sub that may well be doomed. The action of "Das Boot" takes place entirely in a German U-Boat, with dimensions of 10'x150'. "Das Boot" for all its intensity and excitement and fighting and destruction is, perhaps more than any other film, an anti-war film. I've always believed that a truly effective war film is, essentially, an anti-war film. Want to read more of Max gushing about a film he loved? Check out his review of ‘The Babadook’.After viewing the 210 minute Director's Cut of the Wolfgang Peterson masterpiece, "Das Boot," the film enters my Top 100 films of all-time. No other portrayal is a more caring, thoughtful and, quite literally, fleshed-out depiction of kinship in the face of adversity. I know even suggesting such a thing will induce loud snorts from The Bridge on the River Kwai or Saving Private Ryan brigade, but I don’t care. His sweaty, grizzled face leers over Das Boot. He is the film.ĭas Boot, and especially it’s truly (and I mean truly) shocking ending, is probably the best war film ever made. Prochnow has the rare gift of being able to convey deep emotion with the tiniest twitch, the quietest murmur or grunt. In a film of excellent performances, one stands head and shoulders about the rest: Jürgen Prochnow’s Kapitänleutnant. They are real, three-dimensional characters. There are none of the cheesy Achtung Spitfeuer! or Gott in Himmel! characterisations of the Germans here. The ship itself is the German military in microcosm: provincial, cynical, non-Nazi, funny and human. It shows the futility of the whole affair, the wastage of life involved in the megalomania of one man. Make no bones about it, Das Boot is firmly, utterly, tragically anti-war. But the situation is rapidly turning against the German Navy – the British have developed new ways of seeking and destroying the underwater “hunters”. Werner (Herbert Grönemeyer), as he joins the crew of the U-96 on a mission to the North Atlantic in 1941. The rest (by which I mean the remaining 292 minutes) of the film centres around a naive war correspondent, Lt. A whale-like shape appears and transforms into the title card with an orchestral flourish. The gurgling sound of the invisible U-boat’s engine slowly thwumps into your skull. We are first confronted with a simple, sickly green panel, accompanied by the faint sound of sonar. It’s easily up there with that of Blade Runner and Boogie Nights and perfectly sets the scene, atmosphere and tension for the rest of the film.
Sound like your homoerotic cup of tea? Sit back, light your pipe, pull on the tartan blanket and enjoy the ubiquitous “here’s the plot in a nutshell” part of the review.įirst, the opening shot. There are no aliens, no lightsabers, no Val Kilmer and no celebrity boobs – just sweaty German men in a glorified tube.
It must be one of those clunky swords-and-sandals epics or a flashy sci-fi romp for that kind of money.” Nope, Wolfgang Petersen’s Das Boot is about men in a submarine. “Blimey,” I hear you cry, “that’s a lot of numbers. But that’s nothing: Das Boot made a stonking $84 million at the box office in 1981, making it one of the highest-grossing “foreign language” films of all time. It’s also the most expensive German film ever made, with a similarly mind-boggling budget of 32 million Deutschmarks (or $12 million in today’s money). That, ladies and gentleman, is just a shade under five hours. The uncut version (and the best according to snobby purists like myself) of the Second World War epic has a staggering running time of 293 minutes.