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Once at sea, beyond escort ships and sight of land, the opportunity to concentrate on the job in hand comes. Isolated from the distractions of family and daily news, the crew is primed to hunt down and engage enemy shipping. It is, however, difficult to keep a tight ship when the submarine is packed to the ceiling with supplies, torpedoes and fuel. Starved of combat, all are sluggish in their response when the Captain suggests to the 2nd Lieutenant (Martin Semmelrogge) that they simulate a crash-dive. It seems that a few days more are required for a return to readiness, a touch of fine-tuning. Unfortunately the days turn into weeks, endless hours of apathy and paralysis. The crew awaits orders and the tension rises. Werner takes photographs, Johann (Erwin Leder) tends to his engines, the 2nd Lieutenant cracks jokes and everyone grows to hate the Hitler Youth 1st Lt. (Hubertus Bengsch). Eventually, a convoy is sighted close to their present position.
Given the opportunity to finally rid themselves of a belly-full of torpedoes, the crew urge U-96 forward at top speed. Closing in on their quarry, the swell grows stronger and there's still no signal from their colleagues. The Captain is not to be denied though, ordering the boat to surface in a bid to locate some laden supply vessels. Through the spray and mist they scan the horizon, finally spotting tubs worth loading the torpedo tubes for. However, just as they're on the verge of firing, a monstrous destroyer hoves into view, right on top of them and bent on destruction. Alarm! In a second changing from aggressor to defender, U-96 plummets steeply in a vain bid to avoid the depth charges; to no avail. Werner gets his first experience of being bombarded with no way out. Now it's up to the Captain and the Chief Engineer (Klaus Wennemann) to pull them out of this hole - an unenviable task.
Related from the perspective of reporter Werner, Das Boot begins well by giving us a character whom we can identify with. He's just as much a submarine virgin as we are; eager to experience the "adventure" of a life beneath the waves but wholly unprepared for the futility, boredom and squalor. It's clear that Werner has been drafted in to report on the unsung U-boat heroes, propaganda to restore the morale of the masses. Yet from the start (during the "car-wash" probably) he learns that the crew of U-96 are far removed from his image of stiffly saluting marines. Adapted to surviving month after month in a cramped metal tube, sharing the sweat, smells and stories of their comrades, the crew has long since abandoned any concept of formality. Instead a loose command structure has evolved, one which snaps into place when required yet allows a certain flexibility. All of this and more Werner absorbs, learning as he goes the different style of courage which drives the Captain and his crew.
Numerous factors combine to make Das Boot an unusually intense and draining experience, yet two stand out as deserving of closer attention. The first concerns the sailors, both individually and en masse. Faced with the toughest and most dangerous mission sectioned out by the German Navy, the young crew pull together like no other (except perhaps the Apollo 13 team) in the face of adversity. Each deals with the unrelenting pressure in his own fashion - the Captain listens to classical records, Johann beds down with his diesels, Ullmann (Martin May) pens letters to a distant love and Werner marshals his thoughts on the situation. The majority have families at home, yet all they can do is suffer through the sporadic radio broadcasts with no knowledge of their loved ones. As the fear, anger and boredom of the crew is up so close, it's easy to identify with the protagonists and their tedious predicament.
The second area in which Das Boot excels is in Wolfgang Petersen's extraordinary ability to bring out the oppressive, almost inhuman, conditions of the U-boat. Hand-held photography takes you right into the action, in amongst corridors stacked with supplies, bunks shared by several men and the pulsating throb of the engines. Thoroughly suffocating and grimy (a feeling heightened by Petersen's knack of filling the frame with bodies), a boarding-school atmosphere of smutty jokes and farting reigns over the enlisted men's quarters. This is, apparently, the only way to put off pondering the inevitable risk of being depth-charged, the swampy purr of a destroyer's propellers as it powers ever closer and the unbearable silence as it passes. The problem is that it's almost as bad not being depth-charged, since that means you're merely drifting around the ocean doing nothing.
Technically, Das Boot is again rather special. Confined to a small metal box for most of the film, Petersen turns this lack of freedom to his advantage. Instead of showing what is occurring beyond the walls of the submarine, he traps us with the crew and forces us to interpret the metallic wails, distant explosions and unnerving pings, which resonate through the surrounding, water. Sound plays a crucial role in undersea warfare and Das Boot recreates that relationship quite splendidly. The officers frozen, half-illuminated by the crimson glow of the instruments, are at full stretch as they struggle to hear more. In sympathy we do the same, on the edge of our seats. Kudos must go to the sound crew for such brilliance.
Based on the autobiographical novel of war correspondent Lothar Buccheim, Das Boot is implicitly, rather than explicitly, an anti-war film. Its prime concern is to show the sailors on-board U-96 to be merely human. Like anyone else they have faults, weaknesses and concerns, most of which have nothing to do with the Nazi umbrella under which they sail. In fact, with late 1941 seeing the tide turning against the U-boats, the cynicism directed at their land-locked admirals reaches an all-time high. Placed against the ending of fire, pain, desolation and regret, Das Boot remains one of the most shocking, affecting and memorable wartime stories ever filmed.
Note: This review is based upon the 5 hour mini-series rather than either of the feature films; catch it if you can.
This film was nominated for review by Jennifer J Curtis.
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