Hello, all! Today, we’ll shift gears to the war won by “the greatest generation,” World War II. Obviously, there is no shortage of movies set in this particular period of time, and unlike other wars that are the focus of the folks in Hollyweird [and elsewhere], there are very few such films that aren’t at least good in my opinion… some are even great. And then, some are truly classic; the first of the films set in the Second World War is just that. One of the most expensive films to come out of Germany, DAS BOOT is simply superb on every level, and stands as one of the best “anti-war” films ever. I’ve embedded the trailer below.
There is no shortage of films that address the Battle of the Atlantic from the perspective of the U-boats that prowled the waters in “wolfpacks.” Anyone who’s seen CRIMSON TIDE [yes, I shudder saying the title] likely remembers a bit of dialogue where two of the officers were trying to remember who played the German U-boat commander in THE ENEMY BELOW. Even more recently, U-571 took advantage of the naturally tense and claustrophobic conditions in a WWII-era sub [and abusing history in the process, since it was the Brits that did it, but hey…]. The [surprisingly effective] horror film BELOW was made all the more tense and creepy due to its being set onboard a submarine. There are probably few things more inherently tense than having one string of depth charges after another being dropped on you, all whilst trying to avoid whatever depth might crush your entire vessel like a beer can. So, yeah, it’s a cinematic device that isn’t exactly new… but it’s done so well in DAS BOOT that the submarine itself may very well deserve billing in the credits [to @David_Byrne, would that make it SAG eligible?
].
Earlier, I qualified my recommendation of CAPITAINE CONAN by saying some folks “don’t like to read their movies,” so I guess it bears repeating for this one. Having said that, I feel obliged to share this. Back when it was originally released in theaters, there were two versions: one being English-dubbed and the other being a German-language version of the film. The German version of the film did better by far in the US box office. You don’t need to speak German to appreciate this film. In fact, there are a whole lot of scenes where you probably don’t even need to check out the subtitles – the actors do such an incredible job, and the film is so well structured and edited, that the subtitles are almost superfluous. It certainly doesn’t hurt that there’s a statistic given at the beginning of the film that talks about how many U-boat crews didn’t return home, which adds an even greater sense of tension to the film when the crew of the U-96 come under fire. As high a casualty rate that US bomber crews over Europe had, even more U-boat crews didn’t survive their missions.
It makes sense that the Germans would be pretty good at producing anti-war films – losing two world wars surely makes an impression on any pop culture to follow. Much like the earlier ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT, this one really has a gut punch that sticks with you well after the movie is over. There’s more than one such scene, in fact, but the third act has the one that really hits home. My guess is that the ending is so compelling because there’s so much authenticity in the film, from the performances to the little details that the film gets right. About those details, there were two U-boat captains who served as advisors on the film, and it shows. Furthermore, the film uses a clever technique to introduce the boat and its crew, having a war correspondent assigned to document the crew while at sea. Focusing on his nervousness when the vessel creaks and groans [just while submerging] pays dividends later when the boat is actually under attack.
One last point about what I’d consider a masterpiece of filmmaking by Wolfgang Petersen [whose other film TROY I wrote about earlier], do yourself a favor and skip the Director’s Cut of the film. While a director’s can help to flesh out more fully the plot and characters [see: my comments in the write-up for KINGDOM OF HEAVEN], this one just gets bogged down in scenes that don’t really add anything new to either the plot or the characters. The theatrical release is brilliant, smartly edited, and communicates everything it needs to from the first scene to the last. Stick with that one, and enjoy!
*Just to prove the point about how the German version is better, I found a copy of the English-dubbed trailer online - here it is:
Other films recommended:
[Day 1 - KINGDOM OF HEAVEN (Director's Cut); Day 2 - GLADIATOR; Day 3 - TROY; Day 4 - SPARTACUS; Day 5 - BRAVEHEART; Day 6 - MASTER AND COMMANDER: THE FAR SIDE OF THE WORLD; Day 7 - GLORY; Day 8 - GODS AND GENERALS; Day 9 - GONE WITH THE WIND; Day 10 - CAPITAINE CONAN; Day 11 - ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT; Day 12 - GALLIPOLI; Day 13 - PATHS OF GLORY; Day 14 - SERGEANT YORK]
There is no shortage of films that address the Battle of the Atlantic from the perspective of the U-boats that prowled the waters in “wolfpacks.” Anyone who’s seen CRIMSON TIDE [yes, I shudder saying the title] likely remembers a bit of dialogue where two of the officers were trying to remember who played the German U-boat commander in THE ENEMY BELOW. Even more recently, U-571 took advantage of the naturally tense and claustrophobic conditions in a WWII-era sub [and abusing history in the process, since it was the Brits that did it, but hey…]. The [surprisingly effective] horror film BELOW was made all the more tense and creepy due to its being set onboard a submarine. There are probably few things more inherently tense than having one string of depth charges after another being dropped on you, all whilst trying to avoid whatever depth might crush your entire vessel like a beer can. So, yeah, it’s a cinematic device that isn’t exactly new… but it’s done so well in DAS BOOT that the submarine itself may very well deserve billing in the credits [to @David_Byrne, would that make it SAG eligible?
].Earlier, I qualified my recommendation of CAPITAINE CONAN by saying some folks “don’t like to read their movies,” so I guess it bears repeating for this one. Having said that, I feel obliged to share this. Back when it was originally released in theaters, there were two versions: one being English-dubbed and the other being a German-language version of the film. The German version of the film did better by far in the US box office. You don’t need to speak German to appreciate this film. In fact, there are a whole lot of scenes where you probably don’t even need to check out the subtitles – the actors do such an incredible job, and the film is so well structured and edited, that the subtitles are almost superfluous. It certainly doesn’t hurt that there’s a statistic given at the beginning of the film that talks about how many U-boat crews didn’t return home, which adds an even greater sense of tension to the film when the crew of the U-96 come under fire. As high a casualty rate that US bomber crews over Europe had, even more U-boat crews didn’t survive their missions.
It makes sense that the Germans would be pretty good at producing anti-war films – losing two world wars surely makes an impression on any pop culture to follow. Much like the earlier ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT, this one really has a gut punch that sticks with you well after the movie is over. There’s more than one such scene, in fact, but the third act has the one that really hits home. My guess is that the ending is so compelling because there’s so much authenticity in the film, from the performances to the little details that the film gets right. About those details, there were two U-boat captains who served as advisors on the film, and it shows. Furthermore, the film uses a clever technique to introduce the boat and its crew, having a war correspondent assigned to document the crew while at sea. Focusing on his nervousness when the vessel creaks and groans [just while submerging] pays dividends later when the boat is actually under attack.
One last point about what I’d consider a masterpiece of filmmaking by Wolfgang Petersen [whose other film TROY I wrote about earlier], do yourself a favor and skip the Director’s Cut of the film. While a director’s can help to flesh out more fully the plot and characters [see: my comments in the write-up for KINGDOM OF HEAVEN], this one just gets bogged down in scenes that don’t really add anything new to either the plot or the characters. The theatrical release is brilliant, smartly edited, and communicates everything it needs to from the first scene to the last. Stick with that one, and enjoy!
*Just to prove the point about how the German version is better, I found a copy of the English-dubbed trailer online - here it is:
Other films recommended:
[Day 1 - KINGDOM OF HEAVEN (Director's Cut); Day 2 - GLADIATOR; Day 3 - TROY; Day 4 - SPARTACUS; Day 5 - BRAVEHEART; Day 6 - MASTER AND COMMANDER: THE FAR SIDE OF THE WORLD; Day 7 - GLORY; Day 8 - GODS AND GENERALS; Day 9 - GONE WITH THE WIND; Day 10 - CAPITAINE CONAN; Day 11 - ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT; Day 12 - GALLIPOLI; Day 13 - PATHS OF GLORY; Day 14 - SERGEANT YORK]
