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 Great movie! But dont stop here....... Mar 21, 2010
This was a excellent movie on the life of German submariners during WW2. Makes the submarines of today look like under water cruise ships by comparision.
BUT DONT STOP HERE! After you watch this great film, read "Iron Coffins" by Herbert Werner. Which is a real life account of his career in the U-boat flotilla. What Werner experieces even tops what happened to the characters in this movie, and this guy is STILL alive in his 90's living in Florida! Amazing!
Something for those who study film Feb 28, 2010
Many of these reviews have a decidedly populist slant, and I find people writing here who have a problem with overdubbed English voices, or the presence of subtitles. Apparently, if you make a film in its native language, you can't win with the English-only group--they will be much happier with Wall-E, the latest H'wood blockbuster, and Gone In 60 Seconds. I say to you, you have your reward. Das Boot is the kind of film that you don't really need to know German, or read English subtitles, in order to "get" what is going on, or to read the emotions of the characters as they are portrayed by this superb ensemble. Jurgen Prochnow is simply one of the most sensitive and strongest of film actors, always underplaying, yet always playing for the director's camera angle and the intent of a scene, and delivering well-modulated evidence of his character's, the Captain's, stresses and ire and enthusiasm with great reserve, poise, and humanity. This is the man you would want to follow into the battle, if only for the glorious honor of dying by his side, if it comes to that. Lieutenant Werner, the embedded journalist (this is where CNN and Fox got the idea) is a perfect foil in his status as a neophyte, a possible snoop for the High Command, as supercargo, and his emotions, and his P.O.V. are, of course, what drive the viewer's journey through this particular cruise through a lower level of hell. The Chief's urbanity, his droll wit, and the rigid Nazism of the first officer, contrasted with the Second's comical and wry take on nearly every situation, make up a complex dynamic as close in its verisimilitude as we could ever hope to get in this deplorable, pressurized, jolting and very deadly environment. The sub's confines provide a very limited mise-en-scene, and yet, with swinging sausages and ubiquitous citrus fruit rocketing like missiles within its heaving confines, we see each character, no matter how minor his part in the action, writ larger than life, and we become immersed, literally, in the "welt" of this U-boot. The pyrotechnics and heavily-layered sound track keep us bouncing in our seats, sweating down our spines, as we dive ever deeper into the briny depths, as the ship creaks, lurches, and blows its bolts, along with its lights and gauges, and the desroyer's screws grind overhead. People watching this film should also recall that in an environment where a sextant can't be used for several weeks at a time, all those oranges and lemons and limes are a necessity, not a treat: they are there to prevent scurvy, not to provide zest for one's schnapps.
This film also becomes an incredible voyage into a slice of life of those we characteristically, in the States, think of as our enemy, and we become a little more equananimous in our opinions of the average German (although these men are far from average, in the main) swept up in a conflict larger, more horrific, and (for the German, at least) more disastrous than any in the prior history of the world. If these men seem more heroic, in a way, then Spielberg's GI's in Private Ryan, it is because the entire thesis and scope of this film, also, is of a much larger and more comprehensive design. It is also important to remember that we can learn a lot more about a war by studying the histories of the losers, rather than constantly falling back on our own laurels, our own hubristic accounts, as their conquerors.
All this last I say with reference to Eastwood's "Letters from Iwo Jima", which also takes the standpoint of those we tend to dismiss as our opponents, and as the losers, and gifts them with every emotion, failing, sterling quality, and all the heroism we usually reserve for those who fought with the Allies.
Perhaps one of the finest films of all time, in ever aspect of its conception and production and final realization. Soak yourself in it. You will not be disappointed, and you will find yourself returning to it, many times, over the years.
Saving Private Ryan [Blu-ray]
Letters from Iwo Jima [Blu-ray]
review of das boot Feb 03, 2010
Story of a German u-boat in World War ll. The boat is ultimately sunk in harbor in Italy. Very realistic.u-boat in wartime
 The Director's Cut Jan 11, 2010
They say that war is long stretches of boredom interrupted by brief moments of panic, fear, terror. This movie is a very good example of this cliche. All credit to the scriptwiters, editors, director, actors - it's an excellent war film. I saw it orginally in the theater (shorter version 2 1/2 hours) and now the uncut version(4 hours and 50 minutes). Frankly, I did not need the extra minutes. I know that is heresy to some purists.
Das Boot is based on true autobiography of Lt Werner, which makes it interesting, it's accurate and it is very, very long. You have the option to view it with English dubbing, which was nice. Subtitles require your undivided attention.
The U Boat Captain knows the long odds and the youth on the boat have not yet learned that war is gory (If you've read or seen The Red Badge of Courage, All Quiet on the Western Front, Platoon, you get the idea). It has a great twist and the end. I think it is very much an anti war, anti Nazi movie. It shows the waste of lives, the loss of innocence, the false glory of war. It deserves to be listed in the great category such as All Quiet, Red Badge, etc. But it is very, very long.
1 of 1 found the following review helpful:
 Bought The Wrong Version Dec 16, 2009
I loved the theatrical release of this film when it was new in about 1985. I watched it on VHS.
Now I wanted to update to DVD and didn't really look too closely at the different versions that were available. I figured, "Director's Cut" new scenes added, ten bucks, that's for me.
Well, they did add new scenes but they also took out scenes, too. Why? And why did they sanitize it? In several scenes they took out an innocent natural swear word, and they cut almost entirely the crew's expression of their real wishes when they think they are returning to La Rochelle.
In addition the film was shot twice, I think, when it was made -- once in German and once in English. That is I do not remember the film being overdubbed. Here it is in German with overdubbed English and the dubbing is not so good.
I am searching now for the proper version, sheesh.
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