1001 Club - Das Boot (1981)

#670. Das Boot (1981)

Why It's In The Book: "Director Wolfgang Petersen’s 1981 World War II drama Das Boot was nominated for six Academy Awards, a ‘mission impossible’ for any foreign film. Capturing in authentic  claustrophobic detail the sights and, most notably, the sounds of underwater warfare, the film sidelines issues of nationalism to focus on the dangerous task of manning a submarine in war-torn waters…
Prochnow, later embraced by Hollywood with appearances in The Keep, The English Patient, and others, so embodies the captain that it is unimaginable to think that both Robert Redford and Paul Newman were slated for this vital role when the film was a German-American concern. Within the superb supporting cast, Herbert Grünemeyer, now a well-known German rock musician, plays Lieutenant Werner, a character drawn from Lothar-Gunther Buchheim, the war correspondent upon whose best-selling 1973 memoirs the script for Das Boot was based. Much of the nerve-shattering realism of Das Boot is due to the scale-model U-boats built for the production. Taking up a large portion of the film’s $14 million budget, they were later used in Raiders of the Lost Ark. As much a sonic as a visual experience, the entire film was shot silent; it was impossible to record live in the submarine interiors. The subtitles version is considered definitive, with all German and English dialogue added later—many of the German actors dubbing their own voices for the spoken English version." -1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die

Member Ratings

Chip Lary - 10/10
"Not only are the Allies the enemy, so too are the conditions and their fellow crewmen.  Even the very sea outside their vessel becomes a dangerous beast that is constantly trying to either drown them via leaks or crush them in its depths."
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Klaus Ming - 10/10
"intense and claustrophobic"
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Adolytsi - 9/10
"I can see how some would find this boring and a waste of running time. This film isn’t concerned with those people; this is selling itself to the historical crowd, the crowd that wants to experience what life must have really been like day-to-day on one of these submarines, and in that, Das Boot succeeds infinitely."
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marie_dressler - 9/10
"This movie had my heart pumping vigorously for 149 minutes and me wishing that I was watching the 209-minute directors cut."
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Movie Guy Steve - 9/10
"...this film becomes the definition of claustrophobia."
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Siochembio - 9/10
"Das Boot is long, something my gnat-like attention span greatly dislikes, but it’s also taut and suspenseful, something I very much like."
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Kim Wilson - 8/10
"Overall, Das Boot is a superbly directed film with stunning visuals and sound effects. It is a taut drama that never seems unrealistic and it makes the viewer feel as though they are a U-boat crew member."
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Lindsey - 8/10
"Even if you don't like long films, this has more than enough tension, panic, and explosions (literal explosions! Lots!) that will keep you entertained."
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Nicolas Krizan - 8/10
"existence is literally and figuratively under extreme pressure"
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Michaël Parent - 6/10
"It reminded me of the 'Band of Brothers' miniseries."
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Overall Rating: 8.6/10