For any fans of the war film genre, Wolfgang Petersen's 1982 film DAS BOOT was just digitally remastered for Blu-ray. I now own both the original and the new director's cut. If you own, the original, I still recommend looking into it. If you own neither or haven't seen it, do yourself a favor and watch the film. You won't be disappointed. LA Times has called it "the most convincing war movie ever made." I suspect there's at least a handful of fellow fans in here, but just in case you're not familiar with the film, here's a brief description: Set in 1942 during World War Two's Battle of the Atlantic, German subs are engaging English shipping vessels in hopes to dwindle the supplies & support. The Germans are severely outmatched by the English's more advanced escorts, proving victory to be a difficult task. DAS BOOT focuses on the actions of one such U-Boat, but also delves deeper into the sociological and psychological implications of the U-Boat's environment. This multi dimensional aspect of the film, coupled with the intensity of being confined to a submarine, is what makes it so remarkably intense and interesting. If you're a fan of war films, or you consider yourself a film buff, Das Boot is a must-see. I mean, it hasn't receive 6 Oscar nominations and decades of acclaim for no reason at all! ; ) Behind the scenes clip I found; Wolfgang Peters describing how he fought to make Das Boot an authentic German film: https://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=1404770455699&oid *And fyi, the Blu-ray extras are incredible. Bonus features include: - full commentary with Wolfgang Peters - extensive documentary footage from filming in 1981 - overviews of the control and captain's room, and then some. View attachment 13650
I've seen it, both the original and the director's cut, as well as reading the novel. It's definitely riviting stuff, and has the desperation and futility all wrapped up in it. The ghostly look of the crew, especially at Gibraltar, sears into my mind. Also, the irony of the ending.
Without doubt one of my all time favorite WW2 movies, I read the novel well before I saw the first version, and have not seen the new director's cut version. It is on my Netflix "wish list" however.
Well, AFAIK, the "director's cut" is not new, it has been around since 1997, running time is around 208-210 minutes. Although, the "director's cut" that I have is mislabeled with a running time of 293 minutes(that is the running time for the "uncut" version). I'd like to get a copy of the "uncut" version(the entire TV miniseries), but have never gotten around to it. I have heard that there is much more character development, but it is overly long.
Heck, I'd sit around for 293 minutes to watch that! I had it on VHS at one point, but got rid of the entire box after they sat in a garage for a year in storage. Hot Texas summers aren't good for VHS tapes.
Ive seen the movies and read the book (slightly better)...I think "authentic" is different from "convincing" though...and different again from "realistic"...Realism is very difficult to put into a war movie...How does an audience know what is realistic having never been in such situations? Likewise, people's experiences during the war were different so real for one is not real for another...Convincing and authentic are more about knowledge and meeting the expectations that knowledge creates. This movie is in my top two all time best war movies...but i found the ending unconvincing...even if it was realistic. Given the press the Kreigsmarine has gotten over the years, and the exciting tales and stories that have come from the atlantic, i'm very surprised there isn't a family of such films.
