The Film

About DAS BOOT

"DAS BOOT“ was produced in 1981 by the Bavaria Filmwerken in Munich, and is recognised as one of the most impressive (anti) war films par excellence. "DAS BOOT“ and its unforgettable soundtrack caught the imaginations of a whole generation of mostly male cinemagoers, and the new adapted versions, Director's Cut and television versions of the film were all present on the market in 2011. "DAS BOOT“ describes the undersea voyage of the German submarine U-96 during World War 2, and approaches its subject matter from the point of view of the affected officers and sailors, ruthlessly exposing their fear, and drawing an extremely realistic picture the horror of war.

Plot

1941. In La Rochelle, a harbour in German-occupied France, a young submarine crew are celebrating their last day on land before setting off to sea the next day. On board the U-96 is Leutnant Werner (HERBERT GRÖNEMEYER), a young, inexperienced war correspondent, who hopes that the experience gained on the mission will stand him in good stead for furthering his career. The ambitious reporter does not anticipate that he will get to know all of the extremes of human emotions on his trip: The highs of excitement as well as paralysing boredom, honour and comradeship as well as degrading inhumanity.

The U-96 is commanded by a 30 year-old, experienced captain (JÜRGEN PROCHNOW), whom everybody just calls "Das Alte". His face is marked by deep furrows – the memories of unpleasant experiences which "Das Alte" has been through during his career. The chief engineer (KLAUS WENNEMANN) bears the responsibility for setting the course. Johann (ERWIN LEDER), who is known as "The Ghost“, is the submarine's taciturn mechanic who affectionately maintains the engines day and night. During the first few days at sea, the submarine's crew do not have much more to do than to cruise aimlessly about. To kill time, the sailors tell dirty jokes and boast of their female conquests. But their irritability slowly builds up, and the men become visibly more aggressive. There is no privacy in the narrow submarine: The sailors sleep in shifts and share a single toilet. Helplessly they watch as the bread slowly starts to go mouldy, and the ham begins to taste of diesel…

Suddenly an enemy destroyer comes into view. The captain sets off the alarm and the U-96 dives. Depth charges explode very close to the submarine and rattle its metal body. The men inside are flung about like insects. However, this is only a light foretaste of what is to come. The U-96 gets involved in a storm lasting several weeks, meaning that they have to remain underwater for the entire period. The crew's nerves are strained to the extreme. When the submarine is finally able to surface, a freighter convoy, escorted by several destroyers, is sighted. Immediately the captain fires the submarine's torpedoes. To escape a counterattack, the U-96 is forced to dive to an unthinkable depth of about 270 metres. The metal hull is hardly able to stand the extreme pressure of the water at that depth, bolts burst from their bracings and the U-96 seems about to implode.

However, the crew masters this extremely dangerous situation. By now they are looking forward to their well-earned Christmas holidays when a radio message from Berlin suddenly arrives. The order is: Break through the British blockade at Gibraltar – whatever the cost. The crew know that this amounts to a suicide mission, and their morale sinks to zero. Under the protection of darkness and just under the surface of the water, the U 96 glides towards enemy lines …