Movie Rewind: Das Boot (1981)

Director: Wolfgang Petersen (Troy, The Perfect Storm)

Cast: Jurgen Prochnow (The English Patient), Herbert Gronemeyer, Klaus Wennemann, Herbertus Bengsch, Martin Semmelrogge

The Deal: During World War II, the German submarine fleet is engaged in the "Battle of the Atlantic", in which they harass and destroy British shipping vessels, but the U-Boats have begun taking heavy losses since the British started escorting their vessels with Destroyer Class ships. U-96 is one of these German submarines, captained by Henrich Lehmann-Willenbrock (Prochnow), and is playing host to Lieutenant Werner (Gronemeyer) who will be documenting their brave endeavours as they attempt impossible missions that test their professionalism as soldiers and their loyalty to their government.

Thoughts: I was unaware when viewing this that the director's cut was over three and a half hours long. Generally, it is nice to know this simply to prepare the mind for that long of a film, but despite this lack of knowledge, the length of time went unnoticed. Despite spending 90% of the film inside the submarine, the film did a great job maintaining suspense and developing very deep characters. It really did a wonderful job capturing the people and experience of spending time in a giant tube hunting warships, even making the "boring" lengths of time very interesting.

The acting was quite good, and I liked that the cast was all German. It adds a lot more depth and realism to the crew. I thought Prochnow and Gronemeyer gave the best performances of the cast. Prochnow really captured the look and feel of a salty, sea-wise captain. Gronemeyer similarly captured the look and feel of a privileged soldier who had no clue what it was actually like on the front lines. It was very interesting watching his character grow and adjust through the film. I won't single anyone else out for their performances, but let it be known that they were all at the very worst decent.

I really can't stress enough how well the characters were developed. In many films, developed characters come at the cost of an exciting story, but the two were blended exceptionally in the film. Any long "slow" period was remedied with, at minimum, some suspense before ever getting tedious. The final impossible run for the ship was very exciting and tense, keeping viewers on the edge of their seats.

Verdict: A very deep and suspenseful war film that sports extremely developed characters while maintaining high entertainment levels. A must see WWII film. ☆☆☆☆1/2

Liked It? Try These: The Hunt for Red October (1990), Crimson Tide (1995)