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Das Boot
Das Boot (German pronunciation: [das ˈboːt]; lit. 'The Boat') is a 1981 West German war film written and directed by Wolfgang Petersen, produced by Günter Rohrbach, and starring Jürgen Prochnow, Herbert Grönemeyer and Klaus Wennemann. An adaptation of Lothar-Günther Buchheim's 1973 semi-autobiographical novel of the same name, the film is set during World War II and follows the German submarine U-96 and her crew, as they set out on a hazardous patrol in the Battle of the Atlantic. It depicts both the excitement of battle and the tedium of the fruitless hunt, and shows the men serving aboard U-boats as ordinary individuals with a desire to do their best for their comrades and their country.
Development began in 1979. Several American directors were considered three years earlier, before the film was shelved. During production, Heinrich Lehmann-Willenbrock, the captain of the real U-96 during Buchheim's 1941 patrol and one of Germany's top U-boat "tonnage aces" during the war, and Hans-Joachim Krug, former first officer on U-219, served as consultants. One of Petersen's goals was to guide the audience through "a journey to the edge of the mind" (the film's German tagline Eine Reise ans Ende des Verstandes), showing "what war is all about".
Produced on a DM32 million budget (about $13 million, equivalent to €17.4 million in 2021), the high production cost ranks it among the most expensive films in German cinema, but it was a commercial success, grossing nearly $85 million worldwide (equivalent to $277 million 2024). The film has been exhibited both as a theatrical release (1981) and a TV miniseries (1985). Several different home video versions, as well as a director's cut (1997) supervised by Petersen, have also been released. Columbia Pictures issued both German-language and English-dubbed versions in the United States theatrically through their Triumph Classics label, earning $11 million.
Das Boot received positive reviews, and was nominated for six Academy Awards, including for Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay for Petersen himself. He was also nominated for a BAFTA Award and DGA Award, and the film won the German Film Award for Best Film. It was the German film with the most Oscar nominations until the release of All Quiet on the Western Front in 2022.
Lieutenant Werner, a war correspondent on the German submarine U-96 in October 1941, is driven by his captain and chief engineer to a French bordello, where he meets some of the crew. Thomsen, another captain, gives a drunken speech to celebrate his Ritterkreuz award and mocks Adolf Hitler.
The next morning, U-96 sails out of the harbour of La Rochelle, and Werner is given a tour of the boat. He observes ideological differences between the new crew members and the hardened veterans, particularly the captain, who is cynical about the war. The new men, including Werner, are mocked by the rest, who share a tight bond. The first watch officer is particularly disliked due to his pro-Nazi beliefs and meticulous grooming habits, which tie up the only bathroom. After days of boredom, the crew is excited by another U-boat's spotting of an enemy convoy, but they are soon spotted by a British destroyer and attacked with depth charges. They escape with light damage.
The next three weeks are spent enduring relentless North Atlantic gales. Morale drops after various misfortunes, but the crew is cheered by a chance encounter with Thomsen's boat. After the storm ends, the boat encounters an Allied convoy and launches three torpedoes, sinking two ships. The convoy's escorts counterattack, and they are forced to dive below test depth, the submarine's rated limit. As depth charges explode around them, the chief machinist, Johann, has a panic attack and has to be restrained. The boat sustains heavy damage but manages to surface when night falls. A British tanker they torpedoed is still afloat and on fire, so they torpedo it again, only to learn that sailors are still aboard. The crew watches as the sailors leap overboard and swim towards them. Neither able nor willing to accommodate prisoners, the captain orders the boat to back away.
The exhausted crew looks forward to returning home to La Rochelle for Christmas, but the boat is ordered to La Spezia, Italy, which means passing through the Strait of Gibraltar—an area defended by the Royal Navy. The U-boat makes a secret night rendezvous at the harbour of Vigo, in neutral but Axis-friendly Spain, with the SS Weser, an interned German merchant ship that clandestinely provides U-boats with fuel, torpedoes, and other supplies. The filthy submariners appear at the opulent dinner prepared for them and are warmly greeted by the ship's clean-cut officers. The captain learns from an envoy of the German consulate that his request for Werner and the chief engineer to be sent back to Germany has been denied.
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Das Boot
Das Boot (German pronunciation: [das ˈboːt]; lit. 'The Boat') is a 1981 West German war film written and directed by Wolfgang Petersen, produced by Günter Rohrbach, and starring Jürgen Prochnow, Herbert Grönemeyer and Klaus Wennemann. An adaptation of Lothar-Günther Buchheim's 1973 semi-autobiographical novel of the same name, the film is set during World War II and follows the German submarine U-96 and her crew, as they set out on a hazardous patrol in the Battle of the Atlantic. It depicts both the excitement of battle and the tedium of the fruitless hunt, and shows the men serving aboard U-boats as ordinary individuals with a desire to do their best for their comrades and their country.
Development began in 1979. Several American directors were considered three years earlier, before the film was shelved. During production, Heinrich Lehmann-Willenbrock, the captain of the real U-96 during Buchheim's 1941 patrol and one of Germany's top U-boat "tonnage aces" during the war, and Hans-Joachim Krug, former first officer on U-219, served as consultants. One of Petersen's goals was to guide the audience through "a journey to the edge of the mind" (the film's German tagline Eine Reise ans Ende des Verstandes), showing "what war is all about".
Produced on a DM32 million budget (about $13 million, equivalent to €17.4 million in 2021), the high production cost ranks it among the most expensive films in German cinema, but it was a commercial success, grossing nearly $85 million worldwide (equivalent to $277 million 2024). The film has been exhibited both as a theatrical release (1981) and a TV miniseries (1985). Several different home video versions, as well as a director's cut (1997) supervised by Petersen, have also been released. Columbia Pictures issued both German-language and English-dubbed versions in the United States theatrically through their Triumph Classics label, earning $11 million.
Das Boot received positive reviews, and was nominated for six Academy Awards, including for Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay for Petersen himself. He was also nominated for a BAFTA Award and DGA Award, and the film won the German Film Award for Best Film. It was the German film with the most Oscar nominations until the release of All Quiet on the Western Front in 2022.
Lieutenant Werner, a war correspondent on the German submarine U-96 in October 1941, is driven by his captain and chief engineer to a French bordello, where he meets some of the crew. Thomsen, another captain, gives a drunken speech to celebrate his Ritterkreuz award and mocks Adolf Hitler.
The next morning, U-96 sails out of the harbour of La Rochelle, and Werner is given a tour of the boat. He observes ideological differences between the new crew members and the hardened veterans, particularly the captain, who is cynical about the war. The new men, including Werner, are mocked by the rest, who share a tight bond. The first watch officer is particularly disliked due to his pro-Nazi beliefs and meticulous grooming habits, which tie up the only bathroom. After days of boredom, the crew is excited by another U-boat's spotting of an enemy convoy, but they are soon spotted by a British destroyer and attacked with depth charges. They escape with light damage.
The next three weeks are spent enduring relentless North Atlantic gales. Morale drops after various misfortunes, but the crew is cheered by a chance encounter with Thomsen's boat. After the storm ends, the boat encounters an Allied convoy and launches three torpedoes, sinking two ships. The convoy's escorts counterattack, and they are forced to dive below test depth, the submarine's rated limit. As depth charges explode around them, the chief machinist, Johann, has a panic attack and has to be restrained. The boat sustains heavy damage but manages to surface when night falls. A British tanker they torpedoed is still afloat and on fire, so they torpedo it again, only to learn that sailors are still aboard. The crew watches as the sailors leap overboard and swim towards them. Neither able nor willing to accommodate prisoners, the captain orders the boat to back away.
The exhausted crew looks forward to returning home to La Rochelle for Christmas, but the boat is ordered to La Spezia, Italy, which means passing through the Strait of Gibraltar—an area defended by the Royal Navy. The U-boat makes a secret night rendezvous at the harbour of Vigo, in neutral but Axis-friendly Spain, with the SS Weser, an interned German merchant ship that clandestinely provides U-boats with fuel, torpedoes, and other supplies. The filthy submariners appear at the opulent dinner prepared for them and are warmly greeted by the ship's clean-cut officers. The captain learns from an envoy of the German consulate that his request for Werner and the chief engineer to be sent back to Germany has been denied.