In October 1941, the German Capt.-Lt. Henrich Lehmann-Willenbrock (Jürgen Prochnow) of the U-96 U-Boat receives the war correspondent Lt. Werner (Herbert Grönemeyer) to cover the work in the submarine during their mission in the Atlantic Ocean. They sail out of the shipyard La Rochelle and along the next weeks, Werner learns the lives, loves, fear and behavior of the young crew, the veteran Captain and his officers. The skilled captain hunts British vessels to sink and dives to depths below the limit of the boat to escape from the destroyers. Near Christmas, they plan to return to La Rochelle; but out of the blue, Captain Henrich receives an order to cross the Strait of Gibraltar to go to Italy. But the captain knows how protected the area is and plans a means to lure the British Navy. Will the U-96 succeed in crossing the Strait of Gibraltar?
"Das Boot" is a German masterpiece by Wolfgang Petersen with 2h 29 min. The "Superbit" director's cut on DVD with one additional hour is a supreme masterpiece of a war (or anti-war) film. It is impressive how a 3h 29 min film is never boring, keeping the viewer on the edge of his or her seat until the very ending. The claustrophobic and tense story increases the drama and the character development in this version, becoming one of the best movies in the cinema history. The German captain, officers and crew are not shown as one-dimension character or sad killing machine like in many war films, but as human beings with families and friends, very efficient in their works but with fear and other feelings. My vote is ten.
Title (Brazil): "O Barco: Inferno no Mar" ("The Boat: Hell in the Sea")
"Das Boot" is a German masterpiece by Wolfgang Petersen with 2h 29 min. The "Superbit" director's cut on DVD with one additional hour is a supreme masterpiece of a war (or anti-war) film. It is impressive how a 3h 29 min film is never boring, keeping the viewer on the edge of his or her seat until the very ending. The claustrophobic and tense story increases the drama and the character development in this version, becoming one of the best movies in the cinema history. The German captain, officers and crew are not shown as one-dimension character or sad killing machine like in many war films, but as human beings with families and friends, very efficient in their works but with fear and other feelings. My vote is ten.
Title (Brazil): "O Barco: Inferno no Mar" ("The Boat: Hell in the Sea")