PRAISED AS ONE OF THE BEST war movies of all time, Das Boot is certainly the most realistic depiction of life aboard a U-boat during the Battle of the Atlantic, which claimed the lives of 75 percent of 40,000 German submariners. Directed by Wolfgang Petersen, the German film was first conceived as a five-hour television miniseries (ultimately broadcast in 1984-85) but initially abridged for theatrical release in 1981.
features plenty of action, from torpedo runs to depth-charge attacks. These scenes are unusually well-done familiar to anyone who has seen a movie about submarines. So for me, the movie’s most compelling element is its emphasis on the physical discomfort and debasements of life aboard a submarine: 50 men crammed into a narrow iron tube, its stale air rancid with engine oil and body odor. By extension, the film conjures something that every veteran knows about military service but of which most civilians can scarcely guess: it sucks.
