PTAbro's World Tour Stop 6: West Germany

It's one thing to fill a 90 minute film with relentless action, interesting and sympathetic characters, and a relatively fresh perspective on WWII, but to stretch that to 3.5 hours? And contain that action to little more than three small rooms? It's an amazing feat that Das Boot pulls off, and is justifiably labeled as not only one of the best German films ever made, but one of the best war films ever made (no small feat considering how crowded that category is).

Wolfgang Peterson plots Das Boot out to feel like a blockbuster - big explosions, manly men doing manly things, and a bombastic score. In other words, he did not squander…

I asked for it. 'To be heading into the inexorable... where no mother will care for us... no woman crosses our path... where only reality reigns... with cruelty and grandeur.' I was drunk with those words. Well, this is reality.
-Lt. Werner

What exactly are you supposed to say about Das Boot that hasn't already been said? It's probably the greatest war movie told from "the other side" next to the original All Quiet on the Western Front.

The key to these films aren't their realistic portrayal of war, but their realistic portrayal of people. The characters in Das Boot are full of humanity and don't feel like glamorized or stereotypical war caricatures. Some of them have already gone through…

A huge running time in one of my least favourite genres. This had work to do from the offset to get me onside and it succeeded with ease. A 3 1/2 hour war film sounds like hell to me but the approach this film took appealed in a number of ways.

Firstly it's from a German perspective. To see a WWII officer drunkenly mocking Adolf Hitler early in proceedings was unusual to me. This scene of debauchery as a young crew drink the night away before their departure to war the next day was a great start. Normally we're used to seeing these characters a lot more emotionless and less human in the movies.

Secondly this might be the first…

A lot of people have noted the skill of the camera work in this film. They point out that the camera effortlessly moves though the confined spaces of a U-Boat. They point out that the movie feels more intimate and claustrophobic because of the narrow, cramped space. I agree totally with those comments, but for me there is an even more confined space that tells the story even better. That space is captured in the faces of the crew of the ship. The close ups and reaction shots of the crew really elevated this film for me.

I saw this film on Bluray and it looked great, but even more important, it sounded fantastic. This is a film that rely's…

A huge running time in one of my least favourite genres. This had work to do from the offset to get me onside and it succeeded with ease. A 3 1/2 hour war film sounds like hell to me but the approach this film took appealed in a number of ways.

Firstly it's from a German perspective. To see a WWII officer drunkenly mocking Adolf Hitler early in proceedings was unusual to me. This scene of debauchery as a young crew drink the night away before their departure to war the next day was a great start. Normally we're used to seeing these characters a lot more emotionless and less human in the movies.

Secondly this might be the first…

Let’s start this review with a little background. My first encounter with Das Boot was a few weeks ago. While playing a long session of Grand Theft Auto 4 my friend tells me of this movie Das Boot. He praises it calling the best war movie and his favorite movie. He invites me over the next weekend to watch what he made out to be the second coming of Jesus. Let me tell you, the movie did not disappoint.

It starts off with a disturbing statistic saying the out of the 40,000 U-Boat sailors that fought in ww2, only 10,000 came back. This sets the tone for the rest of the movie.

The whole movie revolves around a group of…