Das Boot

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Das Boot
original film poster
Directed by	Wolfgang Petersen
Produced by	Günter Rohrbach
Written by	Wolfgang Petersen (screenplay) Lothar-Günther Buchheim (novel)
Starring	Jürgen Prochnow Herbert Grönemeyer
Music by	Klaus Doldinger
Distributed by	Columbia Pictures
Release date(s)	September 17, 1981 (West Germany)
Running time	216 min. (director's cut); 293 min. (uncut version); 318 min. (full length version)
Language	German
Budget	$14,000,000
IMDb profile

Das Boot (pronounced [das boːt], German for The Boat) is a feature film directed by Wolfgang Petersen, adapted from a novel of the same name by Lothar-Günther Buchheim. Hans-Joachim Krug, former first officer on U-219, served as a consultant, as well as Heinrich Lehmann-Willenbrock, the actual captain of the real U-96.

The movie has a strong anti-war message. One of Petersen's stated goals was to guide the audience through a "journey into madness," showing "what war is all about." Petersen heightened suspense by very rarely showing any external views of the submarine unless it is running on the surface and relying on sounds to convey action outside the boat, thus showing the audience only the claustrophobic interior the crew would see. The original 1981 version cost DM 30 million^[1] (US$40 million in 1997 dollars) to make; it was at the time the most expensive film in the history of German cinema. The director's meticulous attention to detail resulted in an extremely realistic and historically accurate movie.

[edit] Movie

[edit] Story

The movie is the story of a single mission of one U-boat, U-96, and its crew. It depicts both the excitement of battle and the tedium of the fruitless hunt, and shows the men serving aboard U-boats as ordinary individuals with a desire to do their best for their comrades and their country. The story is based on an amalgamation of the exploits of the real U-96, a Type VIIC-class U-boat commanded by Heinrich Lehmann-Willenbrock, one of Germany's top U-boat "tonnage aces" during the war.

[edit] Detailed plot

U-96 departs from La Rochelle, France on a patrol.

The story is told from the viewpoint of war correspondent Lt. Werner (Herbert Grönemeyer), who has signed up to write a report on the U-96. He joins its captain (Jürgen Prochnow), who is only named as der Alte ("the Old Man") or Kaleu (short for his rank of Kapitänleutnant), and drives to La Rochelle. Their car is intercepted by disgustingly drunk sailors who urinate on the automobile: in fact, it was the U-96 crew, "christening" the officers.

Werner is then disturbed to see most of the U-96 officers' crew, including the "2WO" (the Second Lieutenant, played by Martin Semmelrogge) drunk in a sleazy cabaret. A drunk officer, Thomsen, gives a crude speech in which he makes fun of Adolf Hitler, much to the anger of some onlookers (he quickly shifts to mocking Winston Churchill). Werner meets the "1WO" (the First Lieutenant, played by Hubertus Bengsch), an ardent Nazi, and the "LI", the quiet Chief Engineer (Klaus Wennemann), who is tormented by the failing health of his wife back in Cologne.

When the U-96 launches into the sea, Werner is in awe and takes a lot of photos of the submarine and its crew. He gets to know the rest of the crew, like Johann, the Mechanic (Erwin Leder), Chief Bosun, and some crewmen like Ullmann, Pilgrim, Frenssen, Dufte or Schwalle. He marvels when the submarine makes its first dive to 150 metres. But time passes, and he begins to realize the routine of being crammed together with 40 people in a small space with almost no ventilation. There is an unhealthy undercurrent of sweat, filth and boredom, fuelled by the fact that there is nobody to fight against. Werner has no one to talk to. He cannot relate to the battle-hardened Captain, the quiet LI, the Nazi 1WO, the cynical 2WO or the tough crew.

U-96 under attack by a British destroyer.

The cruise is decidedly boring as the U-96 fails to make contact with the enemy. But then the U-96 stumbles upon a British destroyer and attempts to attack it. Their periscope is spotted, and they barely escape being rammed. The U-96 dives, but is hit by depth charges and takes damage, most notably water leaks, every submariner's nightmare. The crew quickly patches them up and resurfaces safely.

A huge storm hits which reduces the U-96 to a bit of driftwood. Towering waves hit the submarine and send it reeling. Werner is ridiculed for his fear of the elements, but after a week of the relentless storm, with little rest or sleep, even the sea-hardened crew gets pushed to the limit. Then, the U-96 sees a friendly German submarine. The Captain is irate, because two submarines in such close proximity means that a huge part of the sea is unguarded. The misfortune of the U-96 — no kills, totally out of position, horrible weather — sends the crew's morale to a nadir.

U-96 encounters another U-Boat in the middle of the North Atlantic.

After 23 days, the storm finally ends. The U-96 spots a British tanker convoy and launches a successful torpedo attack which sinks two ships. Two escorts - destroyers - attack the submarine and use ASDIC detection. The Captain decides to dive to 230 metres, far beyond the safety threshold of 165 metres, but is still hit by the depth charges of the destroyers; the submarine buckles under this strain. The submarine takes heavy damage and is nearly crushed by the water pressure. Johann, the mechanic, panics and his mental health, already somewhat precarious, breaks down. Despite heavy damage, the crew manages to patch up enough to resurface safely. They see the wreckage of the tankers and celebrate, but then everything turns into horror when they see burning British sailors dying in the sea. Fearing further torpedo attacks, the convoy had not stopped to pick up the survivors. The Captain gives the order to abandon the doomed sailors, unable to save them because of the lack of space on board and the possible presence of escorts.

The demoralized U-96 crew look forward to returning home to La Rochelle, but then the High Command orders that their new destination be La Spezia in Italy, meaning the U-96 must cross the bottleneck at Gibraltar, which is crawling with British ships.

The U-96 secretly meets a covert supply ship at night — a ship operating under the cover of a civilian liner — in neutral Vigo (Spain). The officer meeting takes place under an eerie atmosphere. After months in the filthy, cramped submarine, living on canned food only, they walk into a luxurious suite fit to serve royalty. The U-96 officers meet pampered, decadent Nazi officers who think submarine life is romantic. The following scrumptious meal has many features of a Henkersmahlzeit, the final meal before an execution.

U-96 under aerial attack.

The Captain orders Lt. Werner and the LI to leave the ship to spare their lives, but this request is overruled by the High Command. In Gibraltar, the U-96 attempts to break through the British barrier, but it is shot at by British forces, forced to dive and - heavily damaged - starts to sink to its doom. The U-96 falls to 280 metres in depth, but just before the hull breaks, the submarine lands on a sand bar on the ocean floor. Numerous hull breaches occur, water floods in, and the battery cells and the water pumps are damaged, but the crew manages to make repairs and to resurface just before they would have suffocated. Seriously damaged, the U-96 returns under cover of night to its base in La Rochelle.

The crew gets a heroes' welcome in La Rochelle, but during their reception, allied fighter planes bomb and strafe the facilities. Several crew members are killed, among them Johann and the 2WO. Werner finds the Captain, also seriously wounded, who sees his boat sinking to the dock's bottom. When the submarine disappears, the Captain dies.

[edit] Reception

A light-hearted moment among the crew.

The movie drew high critical acclaim and is seen as the premier German movie, along with Nosferatu by F.W. Murnau, Metropolis by Fritz Lang and Der blaue Engel with Marlene Dietrich. It is regarded as significant among the subgenre of submarine movies.

[edit] Criticism

In the movie, there is only one ardent Nazi in the crew of 40, namely the First Lieutenant (referred to comically in one scene as Unser Hitlerjugendführer or "Our Hitler Youth Leader"), and the rest of the crew remains either indifferent or openly anti-Nazi (the Captain). Some have stated that this scenario is quite unlikely as most U-Boat crews were allegedly selected from those naval service members with strong belief in the Nazi Party^{[citation needed]}. At this stage in the war, morale was high and this degree of skepticism would have been unlikely.

Even though the beginning and the end of the movie occurs in the port of La Rochelle, it does not correspond historically. The submarine base of La Rochelle was not functional before November 1941, and at the time of the movie the port was dried up. ^[2]. Morevover, none of the British fighter-bombers of late 1941 - early 1942 had the range to bomb La Rochelle

Buchheim himself was a U-boat correspondent. He has stated that following film scenes are unrealistic:

• In the film, an unidentified member of the crew throws an oil-stained towel into Lt. Werner's face. As a Lieutenant, Werner would have commanded special respect and in reality, the culprit would have been court-martialed and received a hefty sentence.
• After surviving a bombing, the crew celebrate loudly in their bunks, even with a sailor dressing up as a woman in a red-lit room.
• The crew behaves far too loudly during patrols; the celebrations after getting a torpedo hit were described as unprofessional.

[edit] Ethnic German accents

U-96 in the Straits of Gibraltar.

The movie features characters who speak German with a regional dialect. Johann speaks with a strong accent from Bavaria, Pilgrim talks with the dialect of Hamburg, and Schwalle with the one found in Berlin. In addition, one sailor speaks with a heavy Austrian dialect (the sailor who receives a pubic lice inspection).

[edit] Music

The characteristic lead melody of the soundtrack, written by composer Klaus Doldinger, took on a life of its own after German rave producer Alex Christensen created a remixed rave-version under the title U96 in 1991. The song Das Boot later became an international hit.

Two very prominent songs of the film were not included in the official soundtrack: "J'attendrai" sung by Rina Ketty and "It's a long way to Tipperary" performed by the "Red Army Chorus".

[edit] Versions

Depth charges

[edit] Versions

Several versions of the film and video releases have been made: The first version to be released was the theatrical 150-minute (2½-hour) cut, released to theatres in Germany in 1981, and in the United States in 1982. It was nominated for six Academy Awards (Cinematography, Directing, Film Editing, Sound, Sound Effects Editing, and Writing). Much more footage had been shot for the film than was shown in the theatrical version, and in 1985, a TV miniseries of Das Boot was shown on German and Austrian television. Aired in three parts, it had a runtime of almost five hours. Petersen then oversaw the editing of six hours of film, from which was distilled Das Boot: The Director's Cut, 216 minutes long (3 hours, 36 minutes), released in 1997, which combines the action sequences seen in the feature-length version with character-development scenes contained in the mini-series. In 2003, the Starz/Encore movie networks finally premiered the complete, uncut miniseries version on U.S. television. This version, running 293 minutes (4 hours, 53 minutes), without commercials, was released to DVD on June 1, 2004, as Das Boot: The Original Uncut Version.

[edit] Dubbings and subtitles

Klaus Wennemann as the Chief Engineer.

• In the U.S. DVD there are no German subtitles. English-speaking students of German wishing to read the German while listening in German will need to obtain an appropriate European region code DVD, such as the French version "le bateau", which also includes American English subtitles and soundtracks.
• Cabaret scene: In the U.S. DVD there is a minor background comment during the drunk hero captain's speech ("He'd better watch his mouth!") that is not subtitled in English with the German sound track but which is heard in the English dubbing.
• All of the main actors speak fluent English as well as German; when the film was dubbed into English, each actor recorded his own part. The German version is actually dubbed as well; the film itself was shot "silent", since in any case the dialogue spoken on-set would have been drowned out by background noise during filming.

[edit] Special effects

[edit] Sets and models

Jürgen Prochnow as the Captain, stalking a British convoy.

Several different sets were used. Two full-size mock-ups of a Type VIIC boat were built, one representing the portion above water for use in outdoor scenes, and the other a cylindrical tube on a motion mount for the interior scenes. The mock-ups were built according to U-boat plans found in Chicago's Museum of Science and Industry.

The outdoor mock-up was basically a shell propelled with a small engine, and stationed in La Rochelle, France and has a history of its own. One morning the production crew walked out to where they kept it afloat and found it missing. Someone had forgotten to inform the crew that an American filmmaker had rented the mock-up for his own movie shooting in the area. This filmmaker was Steven Spielberg and the movie he was shooting was Raiders of the Lost Ark. A few weeks later, during production, the mock-up cracked in a storm and sank, was recovered and patched to stand in for the final scenes.

A mock-up of a conning tower was placed in a water tank at the Bavaria Studios in Munich for outdoor scenes not requiring a full view of the boat's exterior. When filming on the outdoor mockup or the conning tower, jets of cold water were hosed over the actors to simulate the breaking ocean waves. At one point during this filming actor Jan Fedder lost his grip on the railing and was washed off the model, breaking a few ribs in the fall, one of the other actors instantly shouted "Man Overboard". At first Petersen didn't realize it was an accident but enthusiastically yelled "Good idea, Jan. We'll do that one more time!". Peterson still kept the scene and rewrote Jan Fedder's part in the film, so that his character spent the rest of the movie in bed. The actor actually had to be brought back and forth from the hospital every day because of concussion. The painful expression on his face is real and not acted. A ⅓ sized full hull operating model was used for underwater shots and some surface running shots, in particular the meeting in stormy seas with another U-boat.

The interior U-boat mock-up was mounted five metres off the floor and was shaken, rocked, and tilted up to 45 degrees by means of a hydraulic apparatus, and was vigorously shaken to simulate depth charge attacks. Petersen was admittedly obsessive about the structural detail of the U-boat set, remarking that "every screw" in the set was an authentic facsimile of the kind used in a World War II U-boat. In this he was considerably assisted by the numerous photographs Lothar-Günther Buchheim took during his own voyage on the historical U-96, some of which had been published in his 1976 book, U-Boot-Krieg ("U-Boat War").

[edit] Special camera

Pilgrim and Frenssen tell dirty jokes while LT Werner (Left) listens.

Most of the interior shots were filmed using a hand-held Arriflex of cinematographer Jost Vacano's design to convey the claustrophobic atmosphere of the boat. It had a gyroscope to provide stability, a reinvention of the Steadicam on a smaller scale, so that it could be carried throughout the interior of the mock-up. Vacano wore full-body padding to minimize injury as he ran and the mock-up was rocked and shaken. Throughout the filming, the actors were forbidden to go out into the sunlight, to create the pallor of men who seldom saw the sun during their missions. The actors went through intensive training to learn how to move quickly through the narrow confines of the vessel.

[edit] Production

Production of Das Boot took three years (1979-1981). Most of the filming was done in one year; to make the appearance of the actors as realistic as possible, scenes were filmed in sequence over the course of the year. This ensured natural growth of beards and hair, increasing skin pallor, and signs of strain on the actors, who had, just like real U-boat men, spent many months in a cramped, unhealthy atmosphere.

Production for this movie originally began in 1976. Several American directors were considered, and the Kaleu (Kapitänleutnant) was to be played by Robert Redford. Disagreements sprang up among various parties and the project was shelved.

[edit] Cast

A quiet moment in the Officer's Mess. From Left to Right, the Captain (Jürgen Prochnow), the Chief Engineer (Klaus Wennemann), and Lieutenant Werner (Herbert Grönemeyer).

[edit] Das Boot as a career boost

Several of those involved with "Das Boot" went on to even greater success:

• Wolfgang Petersen established himself as a long-standing fixture as a Hollywood director and producer.
• Jürgen Prochnow became one of the few German actors to establish themselves in Hollywood.
• Herbert Grönemeyer became one of the most popular German singers.
• Klaus Wennemann became lead in a successful German detective series, Der Fahnder (the Investigator)
• Heinz Hoenig became one of the most sought-after character faces in German movies.
• Jan Fedder became lead in a successful light-hearted German police series, "Großstadtrevier"
• Uwe Ochsenknecht, Ralf Richter and Claude-Olivier Rudolph had successful German movie careers, too.

[edit] References

1. ^ Official Website
2. ^ History of the submarine base of La Rochelle
3. ^ See comment by Wolfgang Petersen in 'Extra Features' --> 'The Making Of/Behind The Scenes, Das Boot: The Director's Cut. DVD.

[edit] See also

• Heinrich Lehmann-Willenbrock
• Aces of the Deep
• Submarine films

[edit] External links

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to:

Das Boot

• http://www.dasboot.com (Movie Web site)
• Das Boot review by Roger Ebert
• Das Boot at Moviemistakes.com
• Das Boot review by Cosmopolis.ch film