Das Boot - The Director's Cut
by Wolfgang Petersen
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Herbert Grönemeyer, Hubertus Bengsch, Jürgen Prochnow, Klaus Wennemann, Martin SemmelroggeDirector: Wolfgang Petersen
Brand: Sony
Writer: Wolfgang Petersen
Producer: Edward R. Pressman
Producer: Günter Rohrbach
Producer: John W. Hyde
Producer: Mark Damon
Producer: Michael Bittins
Writer: Lothar G. Buchheim
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown), Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround; English (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled); French (Subtitled); Spanish (Dubbed), Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround
Format: AC-3, Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, DVD, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
Picture Format: Anamorphic Widescreen, 1.85:1
Running Time: 149 minutes
Published: 1997-12-01
DVD Release Date: 1997-12-09
Audience Rating: Unrated
Studio: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
Movie Reviews of Das Boot - The Director's Cut
Movie Review: Something for those who study film
Summary: 5 Stars
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]
Summary of Das Boot - The Director's Cut
It is 1942 and the German submarine fleet is heavily engaged in the so called "Battle of the Atlantic" to harass and destroy English shipping. With better escorts of the Destroyer Class, however, German U-Boats have begun to take heavy losses. "Das Boot" is the story of one such U-Boat crew, with the film examining how these submariners maintained their professionalism as soldiers, attempted to accomplish impossible missions, while all the time attempting to understand and obey the ideology of the government under which they served.This is the restored, 209-minute director's cut of Wolfgang Petersen's harrowing and claustrophobic U-boat thriller, which was theatrically rereleased in 1997. Originally made as a five-hour miniseries, this version devotes more time to getting to know the crew before they and their stoic captain (Jürgen Prochnow) get aboard their U-boat and find themselves stranded at the bottom of the sea. Das Boot puts you inside that submerged vessel and explores the physical and emotional tensions of the situation with a vivid, terrifying realism that few movies can match. As Petersen tightens the screws and the submerged ship blows bolts, the pressure builds to such unbearable levels that you may be tempted to escape for a nice walk on solid land in the great outdoors--only you wouldn't dream of looking away from the screen. --Jim Emerson
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