Wolfgang Petersen’s magnificent film Das Boot, about a World War II German submarine, created an international sensation when it was first released in 1981. It was remastered in 1997 as a Director’s Cut with 65 minutes additional footage and re-released on both VHS and DVD. The older version is available both dubbed and with subtitles, so viewers have a lot of choices to make: length, format (VHS or DVD), and dubbed or subtitles. There are significant differences in those choices, but to make sense out of them, viewers will need some background information about this film.

The Story and Characters: The story of Das Boot (or, in English, The Boat) takes place in 1941, at a point in World War II when the tide had yet to turn fully against Germany and the other axis powers. The German U-boat fleet was still highly effective, sinking, for example, over 6 million tons of allied shipping in 1942, but they could no longer operate with impunity. British destroyers were now beginning to pose a real threat of retaliation. The wolves were as often hunted as hunting. The story is presented from the point of view of a war correspondent, Lt. Werner (Herbert Gronemeyer), who is on board the submarine for a single tour, in order to tell the story of the life of these brave sailors. This turns out to be a great rhetorical device because it permits the Captain to explain aspects of the operations and tactics to the correspondent, and thus to the audience as well.

As the story unfolds, the ship is undergoing refitting and restocking in a French port. The Captain and two of his officers are enjoying a rather drunken liberty in town. It is a noisy party and all the more so when the captain of another German submarine, the venerated Captain Thomsen, comes in. He has been recently decorated with the Knight’s Cross for his exploits and is asked to give a speech to the revelers. His speech is laced with wry remarks about the Führer, suggesting little enthusiasm for his country’s leader. He then breaks the neck of a champagne bottle, douses his companions, and, later, pukes in the bathroom. After this gaiety, the officers return to the submarine, and soon glide silently out of port.

Among the key characters in this story, foremost is Captain Lehmann-Willenbrock (Jürgen Prochnow), called simply the Captain. He is an intelligent and respected leader, both experienced and compassionate. Like Captain Thomsen, this Captain is dubious about both the Führer and the wisdom of the military high command from whom he takes his orders. The Captain is presented as capable but not infallible. Over the course of the film, he makes some clever decisions as well as some errors in judgment.

His First Officer (Hubertus Bengsch) is the only crew member with any obvious allegiance to the Nazi regime. He was a member of the Nazi Youth League and is now a member of the Nazi party. He is a bit more straight-laced than the others but is nevertheless presented as competent. Over the course of the film we observe him gradually but subtly choosing the fraternity of his fellow crew members over blind allegiance to the Nazi cause. He proves to be a courageous crew member when the going gets tough.

Three other crew members that get some special development are the chief engineer (Klaus Wennemann), an engine room mechanic, Johann (Erwin Leder), and a young midshipman, who misses his French fiancée. The engine room mechanic is, at one point, on the verge of mental breakdown, and panics when the submarine is under attack, but ultimately redeems himself by coming up with a creative technical fix to save the day.

Soon after leaving port, an alarm sounds suddenly, signaling an emergency dive. The crew members, other than those directly required for the maneuver, race frantically toward the front of the ship to add ballast. This turns out to be a drill, but also serves to acquaint the audience with the dimensions of the ship and the tightness of the passageways. Ten days out, the boat encounters a stormy North Atlantic that tosses the ship about like a toy. Soon, they receive a communication about the location of a convoy and head toward it at top spend, on the ocean’s surface. Suddenly they see a destroyer bearing directly down on them. They have to dive quickly to elude the depth charges, but survive with no more than a minor shake-up. Later, they spot another U-boat and signal to it. It is Captain Thomsen’s boat and they exchange “happy hunting” messages.

Finally, they encounter the convoy and immediately discharge several torpedoes. Almost simultaneously, a destroyer bears down on them and they quickly dive. They wait for the explosions that signal hits (ultimately hearing three) while also attempting to weather the long counterattack that follows. Several destroyers cross overhead, repeatedly dropping depth charges. The Captain orders the boat to a depth of 250 feet, which is twice its rated depth. The hull creaks and strains under the enormous pressure and seems at risk of breaking apart at any moment. Rivets come loose and are ejected like bullets and pipes burst. It is during this time that the sanity of the engine room mechanic begins to crack under the strain. He enters the bridge and refuses to return to his post. The Captain goes to his room to get a pistol, intending to shoot the mechanic if he continues in this state, but the mechanic is removed from the bridge by fellow crew members before the Captain returns. The bombardment continues.

After a long silence, the U-boat surfaces in order to finish off the tanker that it hit earlier. The U-boat captain and crew are shocked to discover that there are still men aboard, though it has been six hours since the tanker was hit. As the tanker begins to sink from the latest torpedo, crew members jump overboard into the burning oily waters and begin to swim for the submarine. The Captain, though momentarily stunned, orders the sub to back off at half speed, leaving the enemy sailors to burn or drown. The Captain exclaims, “What are they doing still on board? Why haven’t they been rescued?”

After this engagement, the U-boat must return to port to be refitted. It is ordered to dock at Vigo, in Spain, on the Mediterranean. This will require passing through the Strait of Gibraltar, which is heavily guarded by British surface vessels. It will be near-suicidal to try to pass through. Yet try they must!

Themes: Das Boot is more about individuals than politics, which is, in large measure, its message. War, which is the handiwork of misguided politics, is dehumanizing and reduces human thinking to an us versus them mentality. Submarine warfare is especially dehumanizing because the fighting occurs at a distance and is measured in sonar pings and explosions. The enemy’s face is seldom seen. Surface vessels are sunk or U-boats destroyed and the killers never see their victim’s torment. Das Boot deglamorizes war, first, by showing the grueling and depressing conditions on the U-boat and, second, by showing the crew members of the tanker leaping to their deaths in the burning waters. Das Boot was the first film about submarines that expunged the mythical element of submarine service and presented it with all its true disheartening quality. Over the course of the film, we see these young men transformed from clean-shaven, spirited individuals to unshaven, unkempt, and dispirited ones. Although the older, shorter version of Das Boot works as well as the new one as a pure action film, the antiwar message is stronger in the Director’s Cut because several of the crew members are more fully developed characters in the longer version, increasing our empathy accordingly. The bonds shared by the men on the U-boat are strong because survival depends on the functioning of the entire unit. Though young and green, these men are brave and capable. Das Boot denies viewers from America or other allied countries the usual emotional cop-out of viewing enemy soldiers as crazed, morally repugnant, or incompetent, strengthening the anti-war theme.

For the Captain, looking out at the enemy sailors burning and drowning, the moral dilemma must be weighty indeed. He is forced to consider momentarily the relative value of blind allegiance to his country and a cause for which he has little sympathy versus his empathy for fellow sailors and basic human decency. In the end, it is the impracticality of taking prisoners on board a submarine and the well-being of his crew that tip the balance, but the human cost of war has nevertheless been driven home.

Unlike many war films, Das Boot works for international audiences, regardless of which side their country was on in World War II, because it is in no sense pro-Nazi. These are simply men doing their patriotic duty, reluctantly but well. There is no pro-Nazi propaganda, philosophizing, or even sympathy, except for the First Officer, and his enthusiasm for the regime mellows over time. The Captain openly disdains the Nazis and ridicules Goering. In one scene Goering comes on the radio with a propaganda message and the Captain orders the radio turned off and a recording of “It’s a Long Way to Tipperary” put on instead. All except the first officer join in singing.

Production Values: Das Boot was originally a six hour mini-series for German television. It was released internationally in 1981 in a 145 minute version that was available either dubbed or with subtitles. The new Director’s Cut adds 65 additional minutes, which provides for better character development for many of the crew members. The only fully fleshed out character in the 145 minute version was the boat itself! Increased investment in the characters means that viewers care more about them and it increases the drama and the poignancy. On the other hand, it makes for a very long viewing experience, at three-and-a-half hours, that sometimes drags. For those who are unsympathetic to the anti-war message, the 145 minute version may be preferable.

In some respects, this is not a classic action film. The drama is more psychological than kinetic, but the action scenes (especially the sub attacking the convoy, being hunted by destroyers, and wending its way through the Straights of Gibraltar) provide intense, nerve-wracking drama. The screenplay, produced by Petersen and Lothar-Gunther Buchheim, is top-notch. The story was based on experiences of Buchheim. This story could not have been as gripping if it involved an allied submarine because in this film the outcome is not assured and the suspense therefore palpable. About 75% of all German submarine sailors were killed in action before World War II was over.

The cinematography is perhaps what is most impressive about this film. Das Boot was filmed at Bavaria Atelier, which is the oldest film studio, predating even Hollywood. The vast majority of the shooting takes place on a model submarine, within a very confined space. Real subs of that era were about 10 feet by 150 feet and provided just one toilet for the 50 or so men of the crew. The cinematographer, Jost Vacano, effectively captured the suffocating claustrophobia that existed in such tight quarters, where no one moves without someone else getting out of their way. Thus, we hear crew members saying as they move, “Permission to pass.” There are moments when the camera zips through the submarine, hurtling around obstacles, squeezing through portholes, and snaking along the bulkheads. It is all very technically impressive and leaves the audience gasping for air.

The score and sound effects were also superb. The music appropriately augmented each kind of scene. The sound effects editing was nominated for an Academy Award in its own right.

Bottom-Line: Das Boot is the best submarine film made to date, beating out some quality competition that includes Run Silent, Run Deep (1958), The Hunt for Red October (1990), and the Crimson Tide (1995). More broadly, it is one of the best war films ever. I am not a fan of war films that are mere action films, that glorify war, or that over-simplify human conflict as good versus evil. I am a fan of human drama and if that drama happens to occur in the context of war, I am willing to engage the violent context for a meaningful message. Das Boot is first and foremost a human drama and only secondarily a film about war. Petersen’s great success in filming Das Boot gained him the interest of Hollywood, where he has since directed such box office successes as In the Line of Fire, starring Clint Eastwood, and Air Force One, starring Harrison Ford. As successful as these films were, they haven’t provided Petersen with the level of critical acclaim or awards that he achieved with Das Boot, which says as much about the priorities of Hollywood as about Petersen’s talents. Hollywood’s priority is for simple-minded action films that will provide mass appeal and box office success, rather than intense psychological docudramas like Das Boot.

Das Boot was nominated for six Academy Awards, which is almost unheard of for foreign films. It received nominations in the categories of Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Cinematography, Best Film Editing, Best Sound, and Best Sound Effects Editing. The casting and acting was also consistently superior. This film is rated R (for wartime violence and language). The DVD has a documentary on the making of the film plus a full-length audio track commentary provided by Wolfgang Petersen, Jurgen Prochnow, and Ortwin Freyermuth, who produced the Director’s Cut. I highly recommend this film. The 145 minute version will do just fine if you’re mainly interested in it as an action film, but the human drama and anti-war message is much stronger in the 210 minute Director’s Cut. The choice between watching the film dubbed or with subtitles is purely a matter of personal preference. I prefer hearing the original language and reading subtitles.


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You might want to check out these other excellent films from Germany:

The American Friend
Beyond Silence
The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant
The Blue Angel
The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari
Dr. Mabuse the Gambler
Fitzcarraldo
Kings of the Road
M
The Marriage of Maria Braun
Metropolis
The Nasty Girl
Nosferatu
Pandora's Box
Run Lola Run
Stalingrad
The Testament of Dr. Mabuse
Threepenny Opera
The Tin Drum
Wings of Desire
Zentropa

Recommended:
Yes

Video Occasion: Good for a Rainy Day
Suitability For Children: Not suitable for Children of any age