The Boat

Each character in the script has their own depth and each plays a smaller or larger, but similarly key role in the film. The outstanding actors also contribute to the excellent result. Jürgen Prochnow excels in the lead role of the captain, but he unfortunately drowned his promising career in B-movie waters. Wolfgang Petersen directed an atmospheric film that is probably still unmatched within the genre. (2005-03-12)

If only one submarine movie were ever made, and it was this one, it would be entirely sufficient. Nothing else would need to be addressed and not much else could be added. This works brilliantly and manages to create exactly what it should - a claustrophobic atmosphere, fear, terrifying moments, but also strong destinies. And the Germans are really good at this, even in terms of acting. The runtime does not seem excessive at all. It has great special effects. (2015-11-26)

This is one of the few films where the overlong runtime is justified. If it hadn't been for the time I spent with the crew of the German submarine, I would hardly have been able to fully empathize with their plight. As time went on, I felt like I was in the bowels of a submarine with them, and I admit that it made me very uncomfortable more than once. I was even more impressed by the last dramatic minutes of the story, which were filled with absolute despair and doom. (80%) (2021-08-30)

It’s a good few years since my dad and I, still a little nipper, watched the original cut of Das Boot together. It was on an old, scruffy VHS and we watched on a Tesla tube, maybe four-color TV. I remember to this day how I for some time after I would avoid using the aged, creaky elevator in our block (just in case, you never know, do you?), which gave out almost dangerously similar sounds as the U-boat did under crushing pressure of the mass of water above it. To this day, I carry with me the impressions I got from the first movie I ever saw that told me that war is a bitch that impacts most regular people and that not all Germans are necessarily baddies. Many, many years later I purchased a DVD with a new, almost three and a half hour cut. And for a long time I resisted sinking into the salty waters of the Atlantic. I had a sort of foreboding that this might sully my untainted memory of this movie. And unfortunately I was right. The new version is of course outstanding, but it doesn’t seem nearly as intense as the original. In places it even starts to drag on. But maybe that is because of my nostalgia. But maybe not. Ping.......Ping.....Ping...Ping.Ping.Ping...Ping.....Ping.......Ping Original cut: 5/5, Director’s cut: 4/5, Special edition: ?/5 (2008-04-01)

Das Boot is the pinnacle of the war genre. Taking German cinema by surprise, it made a successful tour around the world and received a warm reception by audiences and critics. The scenes where the submarine tries to avoid depth charges are riveting and I definitely don't recommend them to the claustrophobic. And while the submarine didn't sink, the charismatic Jurgen Prochnow drowned his promising career in B-movie waters, which is a shame. (2003-05-11)