Reviewing Movies

Most who watch WW#2 movies have seen shots of naval destroyers dropping
depth charges on submarines below and the explosions that followed
driving geysers of water skyward hundreds of feet. Less frequently do we
get the opportunity to witness the effects those explosives have below.
Das Boot places us in a claustrophobic submarine with bad air, smells,
rotting food, no privacy, and shared bunks. The majority of the men do
not see the light of day or get the opportunity to breath fresh air for
the duration of the campaign. For the most part sea duty is comprised of
weeks and months of crashing boredom accented by minutes of sheer terror
when a ship above starts dropping those drums of high explosive. A movie
such as this deserves to be watched in a large theatre with a massive
sound system to give the watcher a true sense of the overwhelming
helplessness and hopelessness such an encounter entails. The hair on the
back of one's neck tingles as the metal joints of the sub contract under
pressure as the boat dives. A boat built for a depth of 90 metres
survives to over three times that depth as fuses and rivets become
lethal projectiles and valves spring high-pressure leaks. As the
adrenaline pumps through their veins these men have liteally no place to
run after their high speed dash to the front of the vessel to assist the
dive. Huddled in close quarters they have no defense but their captain's
wiles as they listen for the inevitable ships screws, the tell-tale
splashes above, or the ping of enemy sonar. The movie is not
particularly about winners or losers or sides but the humanity of the
men who serve in these conditions. Conditions that kept them totally
isolated for the duration with no communication with the outside world
and nothing to relieve the boredom.