German cinema, like much of European cinema, has rarely gone international; few films ever transcended the borders of its country, let alone its continent. Yet "Das Boot" not only achieved that, but also did so with a sensitive subject: the experience of World War Two through the eyes of the Nazis.
One must not mistake "Das Boot" for a propaganda film, or one justifying the actions of the Nazis. It's a clearly anti-war feature, that aims to show that even Hitler's well-oiled war machine had problems from within. The whole film takes place in the titular submarine, the U-Boat 96. Its crew is made up of new recruits, all young men who have no idea what real war is. Above all, they don't know what real life in a submarine feels like.
The one not knowing this the most is a war correspondent (Herbert Grönemeyer), who accompanies the crew in order to take photographs of these brave men fighting for their land and show them to the German people. At first, he is happy and proud to see the men working, waiting to fight, and loves the atmosphere of the submarine. But, shortly after, he starts to sweat, becomes claustrophobic.
All the men feel enthusiastic when they enter the submarine. They wave to other submarines as if they see old friends, and climb to the top t admire the sea. It is only when a destroyer hits the submarine that they understand what war is: A state of constant fear, in which the vague speeches of their leader about love to the country and glory don't matter.
The one who knows that best is the captain (Jürgen Prochnow). Understanding that the war is handled disastrously by the High Command, he complains and tries to help his crew survive. Only he is battle-hardened, all the others never having witnessed war, let alone participated in it. When he sees that the morale of his crew is lower than the deep in which they dive, he gives them hope. But such hope is lost when they are stuck in Gibraltar. Will they survive? They surely don't know. And we stand with them, seeing their struggle to survive in an illogical war, in which the old values about honour and duty are lost in the carnage brought by machines, the destroyer being one such.
Wolfgang Petersen managed to show that both sides of this war had humans in their ranks. Even if we forget that when seeing the evil Nazis in "Raiders of the lost ark" or "Dunkirk", "Das Boot" makes everyone see that not all of the Allies' enemies were soulless war machines. They also have families, and even the high-ranked ones don't always agree with their leader's decisions. The one that always does that is the 1st Watch Officer (Hubertus Bengsch), who, brainwashed as he is, obeys every order of his superiors and maintains his fixation with the military etiquette until the end, wearing his uniform and trimming his beard when all the others have submitted to time and now stay unshaved. It is the reality of war in contrast to the imaginary version of it. Not al soldiers could be like the Officer. The High Command would like this to happen, but human nature doesn't submit so easily.
In the three hours of the film, we witness the change of character that the recruits experience: All of their optimism is lost, replaced by hopelessness. No one cares about their country, or the war. What they want is to save themselves.
While Petersen's direction was excellent, showing both the interior and the exterior of the U-Boat in a way that transports the viewers there, the duration of his film almost made the effect of his direction disappear. Too long for a commercial film, and focusing on the same place - in order to give us the feeling of anxiety and claustrophobia the sailors felt - it retains little of the film's original suspense, and thus renders such an admirable effort tedious.
It is interesting to see that the films that crossed the German borders at that time were focused on very controversial topics. Released the same year, the frightening "Christiane F", about the addiction of a thirteen year-old girl to drugs also met international success. If this film was the portrait of the generation actually walking on the German streets, "Das Boot" could be interpreted as the opposite: the depiction of a generation of which the acts were no longer acceptable in the eyes of the spectators, that tried not to justify, but rather to redeem itself through the movie. The same spectators that made the former film a hit contributed to the latter's success. Because it didn't try to justify the actions of a regime of which the members were back then still alive. It just attempted to show the other side of the war, of which the sorry is only told by the victors, while acknowledging the role of Germany in it. Two films showing the most sensitive subjects of each generation, that met transnational acclaim because of their honest portrayal of these topics.
"Das Boot" is a special anti-war film, since it expresses these feelings from the other side, that of the people that caused this war to happen at the first place. It is through its humanity that it manages to transcends the evil nature of Naziism and become a testament to the irrationality of war. In the U-Boat 96, Hell came to Earth. And through its story, many saw what this Hell looked like. For a commercial film, this is more than enough.
One must not mistake "Das Boot" for a propaganda film, or one justifying the actions of the Nazis. It's a clearly anti-war feature, that aims to show that even Hitler's well-oiled war machine had problems from within. The whole film takes place in the titular submarine, the U-Boat 96. Its crew is made up of new recruits, all young men who have no idea what real war is. Above all, they don't know what real life in a submarine feels like.
The one not knowing this the most is a war correspondent (Herbert Grönemeyer), who accompanies the crew in order to take photographs of these brave men fighting for their land and show them to the German people. At first, he is happy and proud to see the men working, waiting to fight, and loves the atmosphere of the submarine. But, shortly after, he starts to sweat, becomes claustrophobic.
All the men feel enthusiastic when they enter the submarine. They wave to other submarines as if they see old friends, and climb to the top t admire the sea. It is only when a destroyer hits the submarine that they understand what war is: A state of constant fear, in which the vague speeches of their leader about love to the country and glory don't matter.
The one who knows that best is the captain (Jürgen Prochnow). Understanding that the war is handled disastrously by the High Command, he complains and tries to help his crew survive. Only he is battle-hardened, all the others never having witnessed war, let alone participated in it. When he sees that the morale of his crew is lower than the deep in which they dive, he gives them hope. But such hope is lost when they are stuck in Gibraltar. Will they survive? They surely don't know. And we stand with them, seeing their struggle to survive in an illogical war, in which the old values about honour and duty are lost in the carnage brought by machines, the destroyer being one such.
Wolfgang Petersen managed to show that both sides of this war had humans in their ranks. Even if we forget that when seeing the evil Nazis in "Raiders of the lost ark" or "Dunkirk", "Das Boot" makes everyone see that not all of the Allies' enemies were soulless war machines. They also have families, and even the high-ranked ones don't always agree with their leader's decisions. The one that always does that is the 1st Watch Officer (Hubertus Bengsch), who, brainwashed as he is, obeys every order of his superiors and maintains his fixation with the military etiquette until the end, wearing his uniform and trimming his beard when all the others have submitted to time and now stay unshaved. It is the reality of war in contrast to the imaginary version of it. Not al soldiers could be like the Officer. The High Command would like this to happen, but human nature doesn't submit so easily.
In the three hours of the film, we witness the change of character that the recruits experience: All of their optimism is lost, replaced by hopelessness. No one cares about their country, or the war. What they want is to save themselves.
While Petersen's direction was excellent, showing both the interior and the exterior of the U-Boat in a way that transports the viewers there, the duration of his film almost made the effect of his direction disappear. Too long for a commercial film, and focusing on the same place - in order to give us the feeling of anxiety and claustrophobia the sailors felt - it retains little of the film's original suspense, and thus renders such an admirable effort tedious.
It is interesting to see that the films that crossed the German borders at that time were focused on very controversial topics. Released the same year, the frightening "Christiane F", about the addiction of a thirteen year-old girl to drugs also met international success. If this film was the portrait of the generation actually walking on the German streets, "Das Boot" could be interpreted as the opposite: the depiction of a generation of which the acts were no longer acceptable in the eyes of the spectators, that tried not to justify, but rather to redeem itself through the movie. The same spectators that made the former film a hit contributed to the latter's success. Because it didn't try to justify the actions of a regime of which the members were back then still alive. It just attempted to show the other side of the war, of which the sorry is only told by the victors, while acknowledging the role of Germany in it. Two films showing the most sensitive subjects of each generation, that met transnational acclaim because of their honest portrayal of these topics.
"Das Boot" is a special anti-war film, since it expresses these feelings from the other side, that of the people that caused this war to happen at the first place. It is through its humanity that it manages to transcends the evil nature of Naziism and become a testament to the irrationality of war. In the U-Boat 96, Hell came to Earth. And through its story, many saw what this Hell looked like. For a commercial film, this is more than enough.