At 210 minutes in length, this Director's Cut of the film is Petersen's best film one of the best war films ever made. The film may run the gamut of submarine thriller conventions that you would expect to see, but Petersen takes a more interesting approach in handling them. The film spends a lot of time showing life aboard the submarine, constantly emphasising the limited set with characters climbing over and around each other and their supplies, allowing the audience to feel the claustrophobia that this environment would have. The film never breaks from the point of view of the sailors aboard the submarine and is focused solely on their characters as they go about their routines, giving the audience time to get to know them and highlighting their nervous anticipation initially and thereafter, the boredom, tension and repetitiveness of their work as they dive and surface, waiting for battle. When the battles do occur, Petersen is keen to emphasis the reality of these moments for the sailors aboard the submarine, focusing on their reactions to the constant bombardment and drawing out these sequences to build tension, but also to demonstrate the relentlessness of the attacks against the submarines. It's a great approach that really makes you feel for these characters and offers a reminder that the horrors of war are visited on both sides. The final act doesn't wholly satisfy emotionally in that it feels a little tacked on, but it does fit with the themes of the film.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: I hate the German language with a passion. That has nothing to do with this movie, though. Das Boot is fine, but too long and slow for my taste. I think I shouldn't have watched the 3+ hours version, that could've been better for me... Still, I got claustrophobia watching this movie, which is the point, so I’ll give it some credits for that.
Epic in every sense. The sounds and darkness just make it so tense and claustrophobic. And that ending. Jee
Highly recommended movie! It makes you want to live in a submarine.
On all sides of war are just humans...
Probably the greatest submarine film of all time.
Closed door with breathtaking and oppressive suspense, of which one of the main qualities and originality is to have given such an important role to the sound. The slightest squeal of sheet metal caused by the pressure of the water, and now we tremble. In addition, the Germans are the heroes here, shown as human beings, victims of events beyond their control, it deserves to be noted. Very good film.
Way too long for my taste, although it has it's good moments and really achieves to convey the claustrophobic feeling inside a submarine as well as the strains of war.
Shout by BaSsOo7BlockedParent2022-02-01T03:53:59Z
If you don't die from a bullet, shellshock will kill you.