Das Boot (1981)

Exciting film about life on a German U-boat

Director: Wolfgang Petersen

 

Noted as the director of such action movies as Air Force One and The Perfect Storm, this was Petersen’s first major foray into such films, and it was made in German with English subtitles. It is an adaptation of the 1973 novel of the same name by Lothar-Günther Buccheim.

 

Jürgen Prochnow is the U-boat captain known as “Der Alte”�"a 30 year sea veteran in the German Navy.  He must take a bunch of young recruits on their first voyage. Although he is openly anti-Nazi and perceives Der Führer as an unintelligent b**b, he is engaged to the widow of a Luftwaffe pilot.  The other two major roles are Lt. Werner (Herbert Grönemeyer) who is a war correspondent tasked with writing about the voyage. Also there is the Chief Engineer (Klaus Wennemann). At the age of 27, he is the eldest crew member besides the Captain.  Other important actors are Otto Sander (who would later appear in Wings of Desire) and Günter Lamprecht (who was the lead actor in Fassbinder’s Berlin Alexanderplatz). There are other types on board, including a young man who remains clean-shaven and was evidently one of the Hitler Youth who remains devoted to him. He disagrees with the other saner types on board. There is a devout Christian who reads the Bible

 

The scenes were shot basically in sequence, since Petersen wanted the actors to have appropriate growths of beard. They were also instructed to stay out of the sun, so they could achieve the appropriate pallor that a U-boat seaman would have. The film is a tense film that accurately depicts life under the sea, especially during the first hours at sea when the captain has the craft submerge in order to judge if the craft is seaworthy.  Of course, when the U-boat is being bombed by depth charges, the crew is quite afraid. It was a smelly environment that stank of oil, sweat, and other bodily odors. There were two toilets on board, but one was filled with food for the crew, so it had to be emptied before it could be used.  In spite of the dire situation, there is a good deal of humor.

 

In order to show the claustrophobic quarters especially when the camera follows an actor quickly through the craft, a specially rigged Arriflex camera was used which was a smaller version of the Steadicam.

 

The film is an amazing achievement! It should be seen in the uncut version which is about four hours long.