Das Boot (1981)

Time for a new movie, a very new movie. This is the newest movie I've watched since April 6 (The Untouchables, 1987).

There are 3 versions of this movie - the theatrical cut which runs 150 minutes, the director's cut which runs 209 minutes, and the original version, 330 minutes which was a TV miniseries. I will be reviewing the director's cut version which is about 3.5 hours long. This was not the version that was nominated for 6 Academy Awards (that was the 150 minute version) although from my understanding, this is the most-watched version.

Although this film was shot silent and all audio was dubbed in afterwards and I don't speak a word of German, I will be watching this in German with English subtitles.

Before I add my review, I'll add a disclaimer.

DISCLAIMER: For those that aren't aware this movie tells the story of some people fighting for the German Army during World War II. I am not German and Germany during World War II is not generally all that highly-regarded by people I know. I don't think my review would be offensive to anyone who has German loyalties, but if it is that was not my intention.

Anyways...

First of all, this movie was outstanding, simply amazing. The idea of following Germans in a U-Boat during World War II seemed like a pretty unique concept that could be anywhere from horrible to great depending on how it was done. This movie exceeded any expectations I had prior to viewing it.

Despite the fact that this film is 3.5 hours long (at least the version I chose), it doesn't seem like it. Almost the entire movie is action sequences and the pacing is outstanding. Every now and then the action would slow down for a few minutes and you'd start to get impatient before realizing that it's essential to have some sort of plot development in order to work.

This movie stars all kinds of people whom I've never heard of. There are far too many to attempt to list individually so I will not attempt to do so. The ship has some 41 crew members but only around five or so are described in that great of detail. This isn't a flaw by any means as attempting to go into detail with all 41 members would take hours and be dull and repetitive. The main characters were logical choices such as the ship's captain and other officers. Overall, the acting in here was quite good and I found it to be rather believable.

The main aspect that drew me to this movie was the idea of seeing this from the German side. While it seems quite odd, to state, as the movie got going you really sympathized with the characters and were cheering for them not only to survive, but to be successful in their mission which included the sinking of Allied ships. While many people nowadays tend to think of World War II era Germans as Nazis or evil Hitler clones, this movie does a good job demonstrating this is not the case. Only one member of the crew is a member of the Nazi party while the rest of the crew is either Nazi indifferent or openly anti-Nazi.

The effects in this film are also worth mentioning. As this film is relatively modern, completed in 1981, I hold it to much higher standards than a film such as The Bridges at Toko-Ri (completed in 1954). The effects here did not disappoint and were comparable to a modern-day film.

Overall, there is almost nothing to not like about this film. The opening scene prior to the crew's departure wasn't all that exciting although it was rather brief. Midway through the film several crew members almost leave but are ordered not to. This scene is technically necessary as it allows the ship to resupply itself which was needed at that point, but it did slow the plot down slightly for the few minutes it lasted. Even with these very minor flaws the film is simply outstanding and needs to be seen at once by anyone even remotely interested in World War II or war films. I don't particularly care for World War II (I like World War I better) or war movies, but I still thought this was great and it's well deserving of a nearly perfect score.

95.5/100
A

UP NEXT: Depending on how much time I have it'll either be a three-hour musical ,My Fair Lady, or a Hitchcock film, The Paradine Case.

Good review catbox! I'm glad you enjoyed watching this movie!
I have never seen the version you have; i watched the TV miniseries when it was on TV a couple of years ago.

My rating: 95/100

Btw: what is your .5 in your 95.5 rating? :lol:

swiss_tiger wrote:

Good review catbox! I'm glad you enjoyed watching this movie!
I have never seen the version you have; i watched the TV miniseries when it was on TV a couple of years ago.

My rating: 95/100

Btw: what is your .5 in your 95.5 rating? :lol:

Watching the version I watched I don't see how they made other versions. Originally it was an hour shorter which seems quite odd as there is almost nothing irrelevant going on in the movie. They could have had the movie end right after they get the U-Boat back to the surface in the Straight of Gibraltar. For a moment I thought the movie was over when a few people were back in the observation area (or whatever it's called?). It seems highly unlikely that they'd end it that way as it'd be a very happy ending as opposed to the actual ending.

I also don't see how you can add another 90 minutes for a TV series. I think the TV series gives some information regarding the people not on the boat but that seems almost irrelevant to the plot. I learned all I needed to know about Françoise from the people on the boat.

The extra .5 is very key Once a movie gets rated above 90 (or below 50) it is very difficult to get much higher (or lower) so even half a point is quite significant.