Gets appreciated a lot... until you watch it, 14 May 2015 *** This review may contain spoilers *** This 1981 movie is one of these films which everybody loves. but I have to say I do not. It is really a pain to sit through. There are several versions out there and I watched the 3.5-hour director's cut. It scored 6 Academy Award nominations, including Best Director and Best Writing for Petersen. But it did not get the foreign language film submission from Germany as they were going with German Film award Best Picture winner: von Trotta's "Die bleierne Zeit". Petersen (who adapted a Buchheim novel for this one) made a very successful career out of this movie and worked with the likes of Clooney, Pitt, Wahlberg, Eastwood, Malkovich, Hoffman, Freeman, Ford, Oldman, Spacey and Close during his long career. Not many directors can say that about themselves. There are many known German actors in "Das Boot": Prochnow, Ochsenknecht, Grönemeyer (more known for his music actually), Wennemann (rip, looks a bit like De Niro), Hoenig, Semmelrogge and Otto Sander. Prochnos was the lead character, but he is not really the most-known anymore these days from the pack.
The most known factor about this film today is the music maybe, even if it did not score an Academy Award nomination. I personally believe this film works better as a mini-series. it really drags a lot if you watch the whole thing at once and I would not even want to think about the versions longer than the 3.5 hours I watched. What stays in mind most for me is the different use of colors. Fairly memorable in my opinion. Blue for the sky outside the boat. Green for the sea and red for the action inside the boat. There were also some yellow parts occasionally. I have to say I was never amazed by anything in relation to this film and so I did not feel a whole lot when it became decisive about who would live and who would die. I personally will not watch this ever again I guess. Watching paint dry fits it nicely. Not recommended, even if people say it is the greatest u-boat movie ever made.
The most known factor about this film today is the music maybe, even if it did not score an Academy Award nomination. I personally believe this film works better as a mini-series. it really drags a lot if you watch the whole thing at once and I would not even want to think about the versions longer than the 3.5 hours I watched. What stays in mind most for me is the different use of colors. Fairly memorable in my opinion. Blue for the sky outside the boat. Green for the sea and red for the action inside the boat. There were also some yellow parts occasionally. I have to say I was never amazed by anything in relation to this film and so I did not feel a whole lot when it became decisive about who would live and who would die. I personally will not watch this ever again I guess. Watching paint dry fits it nicely. Not recommended, even if people say it is the greatest u-boat movie ever made.