DAS BOOT: THE DIRECTOR’S CUT

by Kevin Koehler

If there is anything my hours upon hours in darkened movie theatres have taught me, it is that there are two immutable laws of cinema:

First immutable law of cinema: Wolfgang Petersen likes to set his films on boats

Second immutable law of cinema: one doesn't often root for Germans

While seminal German submarine picture Das Boot introduced the world to the first law (later cemented with The Perfect Storm, the Poseidon remake, and "airship" flying boat picture Air Force One), it also takes shaky aim at the second - an especially ambitious proposition given that the film is set during WWII (where Germans are never good guys unless you are Jewish, Oskar Schindler, or engaged in a plot to kill Adolf Hitler) and stars consummate baddie Jurgen Prochnow.

Petersen sets about accomplishing this task by remaining relentlessly apolitical, adhering to popular blind-eye historical notions of a WWII where even the German military were victims of the Nazis. Yes, der fuhrer comes under fire at one point for alternately being a poor political strategist and a "braggart," but never for the high crime of being the most evil person in the world ever. Perhaps Petersen assumes this, or just maybe reminding the audience of such would undermine a rooting interest in the charming crew of the picture's unterseeboot, former idealists exposed to the realities of war and wasted youth (much like the protagonists of Gallipoli, Glory, Born on the Fourth of July, and basically every war movie made since John Wayne road off into the sunset...but with Germans). Of the approximately forty-person crew of the U-96, only a single man is an avowed Nazi, and he is mocked for comedic effect. One wonders how Hitler got elected in the first place. This isn’t realism, it’s revisionism.

In the film’s defense, it’s not seeking to be a graduate thesis on 1940s German party loyalties, so it probably shouldn’t be solely judged on the merits of its historical accuracies (no matter how egregious, or troubling, its view of the past is). Das Boot, first and foremost, is an action film - but not an always engaging one. Moving along at a pace one can expect from a 210 minute running time (the original theatrical release was an hour shorter), Petersen per normal acquits himself nicely as a director of thrilling/claustrophobic set pieces but not so much when he attempts any real character development (granted they all had beards, but by the end of 3+ hours, I still had trouble telling everyone apart), clumsy mise-en-scene (before the inevitable suicide mission, the hull of the u-boat is filled with bananas - perhaps German slang differs, but I can't help but feel I'm being told something), or narrative subtlety - if you don't know whether to be overjoyed or saddened by a particular plot turn, don't worry, the score will tell you. Loudly.

Interesting footnote: Based on the memoirs of German war correspondent Lothar-Gunther Buchheim, the picture almost got made in Hollywood with famed director (and frequent Clint Eastwood collaborator) Don Siegel helming and Paul Newman starring as Capt.-Lt Henrich Lehmann Willenbrock. Even after it was decided to do the film in German with Petersen, Jurgen Prochnow was not the original choice to play the Captain. The director previously offered it to Rutger Hauer, who declined the part to instead do Blade Runner.

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