Movies

When you go to a liquor store to buy Vodka you can purchase one of several brands or you can purchase Stoli. That's what Das Boot is when it comes to Submarine films. You can watch any one of several or you can watch Das Boot. Like Stoli Vodka it's in a class by itself. Superb film either way you see it i.e. subtitles or the dubbed version. See the directors cut if you can. The German crew could be any nationality the film is so well done it doesn't matter. Andy Rooney once said that when you're in a war you live life at 100%. The opening scene of this film demonstrates that. The men are living life at 100%. I never saw any other war movie that captured that like Das Boot.

Probably the main reason that "Das Boot" is so great is because it shows that the men in the submarine aren't really Nazis: they were just drafted. But once the submarine dives, then the suspense sets in. Capt. Heinrich Lehmann-Willenbrock (Jurgen Prochnow) leads his men on a voyage of adventure and terror alike. As the viewer, you feel like you're in the submarine, getting attacked from all sides. Rarely do you see the kind of intensity that you see in this movie. Overall, it makes us question the idea of who's good and who's bad in wartime. It's widely agreed that the Axis Powers were the bad guys in WWII, but the men here don't hold Nazi ideology; we sympathize with them every step of the way. A great movie.

Astounding piece of cinema, presenting the horrors of war in a particular powerful way. Amazing use of colour and tone. Unlike other films in this genre, there is a real sense of humanity. Might well be the greatest film I'll only be able to watch once.