This film is critically acclaimed… and I’m not sure why that is.
Wolfgang Petersen’s Das Boot is often regarded as the submarine movie to end all others. The 1981 film is certainly a departure from the norm because it focuses on the exploits of the Kriegsmarine during World War II, but a few other filmmakers have played with the idea of seeing the other side of a war since this movie’s release. With that in mind, let’s consider this film in a modern context and see if it still holds up.
In my opinion, it does not.
Characters? What Characters?
Who are these people?
The biggest problem with Das Boot is that the characters are barely there. Over approximately two and a half hours, the only two fictitious Nazis who receive any semblance of character development are the Kaleun (Jürgen Prochnow) and Leutnant Werner (Herbert Grönemeyer), but even they have serious issues because it’s impossible to root for outright fascists.
For one thing, I don’t know why the Kaleun would be so cynical about the war when one considers the state of submarine warfare and the European Theater in 1941. At that time, the Kriegsmarine managed to stave off British innovation for a little while, but they couldn’t really do much to stall the oodles of American Lend-Lease supplies that had begun to stream across the Atlantic. The film doesn’t do much to explain why the Kaleun feels the way that he does, and it certainly doesn’t portray him as the open anti-Nazi that the Internet claims that he is.
By contrast, Werner seems to exist as a point-of-view character for the audience. We know why he’s there and what he’s supposed to do, but it’s possible to foresee where he’s going from the start of the film. After all, the character is supposed to be a naive war correspondent, so why wouldn’t he feel bitter when exposed to the mild terror of the Battle of the Atlantic.
I know that the film tries to say that it’s a nightmare, but there are a lot of problems that screw with that. We’ll get to those later.
…But The Story Is Good, Right?
Some of the special effects work, but others don’t.
Okay, the characters may be wafer-thin, but that can easily be fixed by putting them in the middle of a good story, right?
Unfortunately, Das Boot doesn’t have much in the way of a plot either. As I pointed out above, the story focuses on the crew of the U-96 as it goes out on patrol in the Battle of the Atlantic. The film sets up the idea that we are about to embark on a harrowing experience, but it doesn’t follow through with the serious dangers of submarine warfare.
To give you one example, consider the scenes where the crew has to deal with a British destroyer. The Kaleun isn’t able to spot the beast until it’s almost on top of his U-Boat, which is really quite horrible. Then again, its depth charges only rattle the boat a bit and cause some minor injuries, so who really cares?
It gets even worse when the crew receives orders to go to Italy. After a brief stop in Spain, they make a plan to pass through the Strait of Gibraltar. Naturally, the crew is a little frightened because of the sheer dominance of the Royal Navy, but the British can’t really shoot for shit. The Kaleun’s men only encounter any kind of serious danger when it’s their own fault.
It’s really silly.
Conclusion.
If everyone can hear the ASDIC system, what do we need this guy for?
I wish I could say that Das Boot is a great film, but it doesn’t really hold up. The characters are cardboard cutouts, the story doesn’t really matter all that much, and the technical craftsmanship doesn’t really work for or against it. Other films have captured the horror and ambiguity of war in a far better way, so you might be better off watching them.
With that said, a rebooted version of this story has recently premiered as a television series on Hulu. Maybe that one will do a better job!
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