#DASBOOT 1981 MOVIE#

The chase is conducted by sound, the crew whispering beneath the deadly hunters above. And then they endure a long and thorough counterattack, during which destroyers criss-cross the area, dropping depth charges. We share the experience of the hunt they drift below the surface, waiting for the explosions that signal hits. The centerpiece of the film is an attack on an Allied convoy the U-boat torpedoes three ships. The addition of this character is useful, because it gives the captain a reason to explain things that might otherwise go unsaid. Played by Herbert Groenemeyer, he probably represents Lothar-Gunther Buchheim, whose novel was based on these wartime events.

#DASBOOT 1981 MOVIE#

He is not a Nazi, and the movie makes that clear in an early scene where he ridicules Goering and other leaders for their 'brilliant strategy.'' For this mission (an assignment to torpedo Allied shipping in the North Atlantic), a journalist has been assigned to join the crew. Experienced, steady, he's capable of shouting 'I demand proper reports!'' even as the boat seems to be breaking up. The boat's captain ( Jurgen Prochnow) is the rock the others depend on. There are long sequences here-especially when the boat is sinking out of control-when we feel trapped in the same time and space as the desperate crew. There is a brief opening sequence in which the boat puts out to sea from a French base, and a refueling sequence near the end, but all the other scenes are shot inside the cramped sub, or on the bridge.ДЄnd it's not shot in tidy setups, either the cinematographer, Jost Vacano, hurtles his camera through the boat from one end to the other, plunging through cramped openings, hurdling obstacles on the deck, ducking under hammocks and swinging light fixtures.

Although we become familiar with several of the characters, it is not their story, really, but the story of a single U-boat mission, from beginning to end. The film is like a documentary in its impact. This 1997 release of Wolfgang Petersen's director's cut, is not a minor readjustment but a substantially longer film, running 210 minutes. When 'Das Boot'' was first released in the United States, it ran 145 minutes and won huge audiences and no less than six Oscar nominations-unheard of for a foreign film.

Dasboot 1981