Cinema
Das Boot
Wolfgang Petersen · 1981
Synopsis
At the end of 1941, Lieutenant Werner, a war correspondent, embarks at La Rochelle on the submarine U-96 for a patrol in the Atlantic. The commander is a seasoned sailor whom the crew call “the Old Man”; his first officer, for his part, remains loyal to the regime. Weeks of waiting and storms precede the encounter with an Allied convoy, whose destroyers give chase to the submarine and subject it to depth charges.
Context
The film is based on Lothar-Günther Buchheim's novel published in 1973, itself drawn from the patrol the author had made in 1941 aboard U-96 as a war correspondent. With a budget of 32 million marks, it was shot partly in the submarine bunker at La Pallice, near La Rochelle, and the interior of a Type VII submarine was rebuilt in detail. It exists in three versions: the cinema release in 1981, a television series broadcast in 1985 and a director's cut in 1997.
Who it is for
The theatrical version runs for 149 minutes; the director's cut, produced in 1997, runs for 208.
Prizes and reception
Six Oscar nominations, including directing, cinematography and adapted screenplay, a record for a German film until 2022.