Das Boot (1981)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 1981
	Director: Wolfgang Petersen (The Neverending Story, Air Force One, Troy)
	Actors:  Jürgen Prochnow (Wing Commander, Air Force One, The English Patient), Herbert Grönemeyer, Klaus Wennemann
	Country: D
	Genre: War
	Conditions of visioning: 16.12.2012, Blu-ray, Home cinema
Synopsis: During WWII we follow the day-to-day life of the crew in a German submarine patrolling the North Atlantic.
Review: Last time I have seen this movie was on a DVD in which the added scenes were of poorer quality with respect to the rest of the movie. This has been fixed with this nice Blu-ray edition: three and a half hours of continous tension beautifully rendered. Petersen managed to keep us attentive in spite of the extra lenght of the movie, even without showing much action! You have to be in the right mood to stand the length, but it can be quite... immersive. The main music theme also helps during the action scenes. The best element of the movie is with no doubt the recreated interior of a WWII German U-Boot, that I had the opportunity to visit at the Bavaria Film Studios in Munich. It is basically no more than a long a narrow corridor spanning from the engine room at the tail, through the kitchen, command post, sleeping area and torpedo room in front. This narrowness plays a big role in making the movie believable and realistic. Then you have this bunch of very young men locked under water and subject to fear and boredom, lead by a captain played by the brillant Jürgen Prochnow and a no-less brillant team of officers. A movie that must belong to a collection of sub-marine movies side-by-side with Hunt for the Red October and Crimson Tide, especially as it belongs to another generation.
Rating: 8 /10