Das Boot (1981)

Germany

Drama, History, War

Radiant Film GmbH, Süddeutscher Rundfunk, Bavaria Film, Twin Bros. Productions, Columbia Pictures, WDR, PSO

Jürgen Prochnow, Herbert Grönemeyer, Klaus Wennemann, Hubertus Bengsch, Martin Semmelrogge, Bernd Tauber

Wolfgang Petersen

Wolfgang Petersen, Dean Riesner

Taglines: On land they dreamed of being heroes. Beneath the sea they pray to be survivors.

based on novel or book, submarine, war correspondent, atlantic ocean, gibraltar, world war ii, duty, suicide mission, drinking, sailor, convoy, destroyer, naval warfare, naval battle, battle of the atlantic

A German submarine hunts allied ships during the Second World War, but it soon becomes the hunted. The crew tries to survive below the surface, while stretching both the boat and themselves to their limits.

Reviews:

Author: Wuchak
_**Life on a German U-boat**_ During WW2, the German submarine U-96 (with Jürgen Prochnow as the captain) leaves the French harbor of La Rochelle for war adventures & misfortunes in the North Atlantic when they’re eventually commissioned to go through the Strait of Gibraltar. The men experience the challenging claustrophobic life of serving on a U-boat with its highs and lows. Who will make it back alive? “Das Boot” (1981) is a well done accounting of what it was like to live on a U-boat in WW2 – the claustrophobic living conditions, boredom, filth, sheer terror and… no women. One great scene is when the submarine surfaces after torpedoing a couple ships in a British convoy; it’s like hell came to Earth. The flick focuses on the Germans in the restricted spaces of the U-boat and it’s amazing that a compelling film can be made from that limited dramatic angle. While this is a war picture, it doesn’t glorify war. It’s “anti-war” simply by showing the way it was for sub-mariners. The film runs 2 hours, 29 minutes, and was shot in North Sea near Heligoland; the Atlantic Ocean; La Rochelle, France; and Bavaria, Germany. GRADE: B