Customer Reviews

don't get the director's cut - shortening loses the film's essential strength - By: phil mars, 22 Nov 2008
One of the best war films ever - puts all the stereotyped heroics into their proper perspective..... most of the time nothing much happens, action-wise that is, ( & it's all the more realistic for that ) , but there is a lot going on psychologically, within the crew, & within ourselves as we watch the voyage unfold - for example, the crew are flawed human beings, & missionic zeal is not approved of........ rather they crave 'action' as a relief from the immense tension & tedium of living with each other for weeks on end..... we quickly identify with them ( some more than others ) almost forgetting that they were 'the other side ' - it's true, we don't want them to sink , we don't seek 'retribution' - so the film has done it's jobin 'humanising' the enemy , &in portraying the pointlessness of war at the personal level...... witness the young german who fears for his French girlfriend, & the subcommander who hasn't heard from his wife, & the jaded but perceptive Kapitan who wonders what his friends have died for...he openly derides the war & its propaganda.
Two things are very well handled here - the personal psychological stuff, (how each man copes ) , & the episodes of enemy engagement, which do convey the terror of the situation........ there are some tense incidents which seem to last a long time( adding to the sense of realism )- some of the more dangerous moments are rivetting.
I am just watching this for the fourth time, with no less enjoyment -in fact I am picking up on things I missed before.
Don't get the director's cut - shortening the film loses one of it's essential strengths. Watch itin one sitting if you can , with popcorn on a long wet winter's evening.

---

Shame about the subtitles! - By: John Millward, 15 Feb 2008
Sorry if this is an 'anorak' review. If you never seen it before then read the rest of the reviews & go & buy it.

I bought this because I had the original BBC broadcast on VHS,but with half of one episode missing! I also have the Director's cut on DVD & whilst this is still good, it doesn't create the tension as well as the full series (as several others have said). I really hoped it was going to be exactly the same as the BBC broadcast but I don't think it is. I think a few scenes have been shifted around (the party after escaping from the destroyer) & I'm sure some of the scenes of the aftermath of the attemped Gibralter breakthrough have been shuffled & some cut. I think this spoils some of the relief you feel as they start to control the leaks.

I could live with that but what really made me mad was the sub-titles (If you want to watch it with the English dub that's your choice but I think you miss a lot). In some cases they just don't translate what is actually said, for example when Werner is taking pictures of the crew as they leave, the captain says 'take pictures on the way back - they'll have beards then'. The subtitles say 'take pictures on the way back - it'll mean something then'. Why change it! I would like to meet the person who thought he/she could improve on the original script & explain to them the error of their ways!

The subtitles really go downhillin the final third. Whoever wrote them knows nothing about submarines because the technical phrases they use to describe the damage & things to fix after the 'breakthrough' come out as technobabble. Werner's speech when he thinks he is going to die is ruined by a couple of meaningless lines. The BBC got the sub-titles right so why couldn't whoever made this version? The final insult is the gratuitous use of 'Americanisms'. Again it only seems to be towards the end but the use of 'guys' for 'men' is more than I can bear!

I guess I'm going to have to paste the missing bit from this DVD into my ex-VHS copy & live with the dodgy quality. Better that than a dodgy 'interpretation' of a majestic script. Either that or learn German I suppose!

It still has to have 5 stars because what the director, writer, cast & crew produced a magnificent film. It's not their fault some fool tried to mess it up.

---

You are part of the crew in this film! - By: Mr. G. Holt, 24 Jan 2008
This must be the best submarine film of all time, & I have got almost everyone, ever made. This film (The Mini Series) is the best version of all The Das Boot versions, of which I have all.

If you suffer from claustraphobia, then this version is not for you, as it brings you aboard as part of the crew, on a long Atlantic patrol, cramped within this steel tube,in some appalling weather. After many days at sea, a British Convoy is sighted & this is where the real action starts.

But, this is just the beginning. Furtherin the film, racing through the Straights of Gibralta, the sub is forced to crash dive, after being spotted by British patrol craft, with drastic results & you are nowin for one of the most intense parts of the whole film, which has you sweating with fear, not knowing how long you can survive.
I won't go on to describe the rest of the film, but it will certainly keep you riveted until the end.

I rate this filmin the top ten, of Films of the Twentieth Century.

---

The Futility of War - By: Peter Hughes, 03 Jun 2007
One of the best war movies ever to hit the big screen. A must for any serious pacifist.

---

Classic study of men at war - By: D. A. Stevenson, 03 Nov 2006
Das Boot is one of those films that will be permanentlyin my top ten movies. I treasure my old videos of the TV mini-series because it's the original & purest version I've ever seen. One reviewer laments the US-audience slanted sub-titles on this DVD version. If true, what a pity such a great film has been marred that way. The only way to appreciate this classic movie is to see itin all its near 5-hour running time. The choice of subject is inspired & based on a novel of the same name by Lothar-Günther Buchheim. A masterstroke by director Petersen was getting the ACTUAL captain of the real U-96, Heinrich Lehmann-Willenbrock, to serve as a consultant on the film set. The result is an honest, stark & utterly authentic film about the realities of war - not so much killing each other as the way men have to live daily with tension, filth & fear.

The film covers the whole experience of a young German U-Boat crew from their last wild night of shore leave to the boredom of firstly patrolling the Atlantic, to enduring sporadic air attack, to false alarms & finally the adrenalin pumping rush of combat when U-96 receives news of a convoy. The terror of being submerged during a depth charge attack by British surface destroyers is vividly portrayed here. There's no glamour or heroic posturingin this movie, just a visceral suspense as the viewer is forced to watch these young U-boat men suffer, yet they still do what has to be donein order to stay alive.

Unlike a previous reviewer I felt no queasiness about the scenes when U-96 is sinking 'our' ships. There are, after all, so many films about us winning the war that it's refreshing & educational to see situations from the enemy point of view. Das Boot is one of the very best war movies ever made. Personally, I rank it above 'Saving Private Ryan', 'Schindler's List' or even 'Come & See'. A must have movie for any serious film fan.