Das Boot (1981)

Directed by Wolfgang Petersen. Starring Jürgen Prochnow, Herbert Grönemeyer, Klaus Wennemann, Erwin Leder, Bernd Tauber, Hubertus Bengsch, Martin May, Martin Semmelrogge, Heinz Hoenig, Otto Sander. [R]

Grueling, intense chronicle of a German U-boat on patrol in the North Atlantic that’s given a mission that takes the crew into heavily-defended waters. A master-class of sweat-inducing claustrophobia and palpable anxiety, with the inhospitable briny depths being given a green, brackish tint, and the hand-held camera flying down the sub’s narrow corridor during dive alerts; memorable sound design makes every little noise count (sonar pings, the creaking hull, bolt-rattling explosions, etc.). Plausibly recreates what life must have been like for submarine sailors: the fear, the anxiety, the tedium, the cramped conditions, etc. As exciting as it is harrowing, and the political content narrowly avoids being too convenient—only one officer shows overt Nazi loyalty, and even that dedication starts to break later on. Convincing performances from most of the cast even as the beards they grow start making several of them hard to distinguish from one another. Only the denouement’s cruel sense of futility driving home the anti-war message in a heavy-handedly nihilistic fashion misses the target (ahem, so to speak). Director Peterson was responsible for the script adaptation, taken from Lothar-Günther Buchheim’s novel. Also shown as a five-hour TV miniseries a few years later, and as an extended Director’s Cut for theaters and home video in the 90s.

90/100