U-571

As far as thrillers go, U-571 is a well made film. Although it's historical inaccuracies are awful, it still serves as a great theater experience. It won a well deserved Oscar for it's sound, which, in the right theater, makes the film well worth the admission. Sound is the key essential to U-571.

The characters are simple, the plot is simple, and the film probably won't haunt you long after you've seen it, but that's OK. Just sit back and enjoy the claustrophobic sets, the deafening sound effects, and the non-stop action for what it's worth.

I saw this film on BBC TV tonight. Let's start by saying as a historical document it sucks - everyone knows that it was a British crew that found the naval Enigma machine and code books, fact. However, the second world war did happen and submarines sank ships. The film was quite well made and fairly well acted but the story should be taken with the proverbial pinch of salt. Robin Hood, Men in Tights was more historically accurate. There have been many submarine films including the superb German made "Das Boot" and an old British black and white film made on a shoestring budget - "Morning Departure" - based on the true story the sinking of HMS Truculent and the attempts made to rescue her trapped crew.

Yet again, Hollywood rewrites history to make it look like America alone won the Second World War! This really is an awful movie that spectacularly distorts the history of the Battle of the Atlantic and, as a proud Briton, I find it downright insulting to my nation and it's efforts during the Second World War. It totally ignores even the basic historical facts concerning the true story of the breaking of the Enigma code, apart from a little mention in the end credits at the point where most movie-goers have already begun to walk out of the theatre and are unlikely to ever see it. And with all of the other factual errors, distortions, and cultural stereotypes, this is about as far from being even a semi-accurate depiction of the war at sea as you will ever get.

If you want a movie that has no basis in reality and just panders to national stereotypes and American patriotic jingoism, then you'll probably enjoy this movie - Just remember that what you are watching is complete fiction and not in any way a representation of true history. However, if you want something that accurately depicts submarine warfare in the Atlantic during the Second World War, you'd be far better advised to watch Das Boot instead.

As a retired USN Master Chief I found the action scenes to be interesting and entertaining but was not convinced that the actors made their audience believe that they were submariners, or even- sailors. I know that a sailor would never get away with direct disobedience of an Officer's order as Palladino did without severe consequences during WWII. The underwater scenes were weak and the models just passable. Must not have had a real submariner for Technical Adviser....be I did get the feeling that the leaky, squirting episodes represented the condition of an old boat. The German sailors, on the other hand, seemed more realistic. For that matter, I doubt that the US Sailors could have put up much of an offense.

I sometimes am lucky in matching my film experience to the audience I share it with, and this was such a case. I live near Norfolk, the world's largest collection of Navy people, and the heaviest concentration of US WWII submariners.

I saw this on opening day, the heavy show (7:30) with the audience packed with young and old Navy. And I have to say, the film didn't work. The models were good, the explosions and all the underwater work nicely done. The boat, at least the US boat, was accurate, and the local paper reports that folks here helped with the specifications.

But these actors didn't seem like sailors, never remotely, and the mismatch was pretty obvious in that audience. Maybe Keitel could pull off a chief with better direction, but not here. And McConaughey and Bon Jovi could never reach believability. Submariners are clubby, superstitious and smelly. Submarines, especially the old boats, are confining. Das Boot gave us a feel for the closeness and the terror, and the high mental level of underwater warfare. This movie misses. It takes more than shaking the camera.

I have some familiarity with the crypto world. That dimension is spooky and could have been woven into the story to better effect. Instead we have a simple grab for an object. You may want to see this for the underwater effects, but otherwise, it is a miss.