Das Boot

Even at 300 minutes, some of the crew are characterized only in the broadest strokes (there's the angry guy, the religious guy, etc.) but it matters little when I could drown in this film with its lived-in sets and its facial expressions that convey the extremes of human emotion. Every frame is dripping with perspiration, you feel the crew's anxiety as your own when the ship's hull groans under increasing pressure. It's a five-hour movie about watching beards grow, and not a second too long.

It's pronounced boat. It's just spelled boot. Look it up.

Das Boot is not a film. Das Boot is time travel. It reaches out to you through the screen and softly pulls you into its world. And it is lovely. And it is terrible. Men try to kill men and they're not sure why. The pressure pushes all good thoughts, all good memories, all light and love and warmth into darkness. Misery. Misery is an ever present cloak, heavy and damp. It's war. No coat of sugar here. No meaning to the heroism. I'm haunted by their faces, those friends of mine from das boot.

2x

A boring and long series about nothing happening on a submarine for 6 episodes

Filled-in same score as film

A true masterpiece. Much slower than the theatrical release, but much more fleshed out and character-driven.

I am glad this mini series is on criticker, because it is THE way to watch Das Boot. Whilst the film was great, it seemed to lose continuity as it was edited from this much longer version, and some scenes looked a little out of place and truncated. This however, is a truly gripping war film, and you end up with a true sense of sympathy for ALL men, whatever their nationality, drafted in to other mens wars, and dying horribly in them. Surely that is the purpose of a war film ?

An amazing experience, the build up is slow but effective as you get to know the members of the boat. It does drag a little bit but never for too long and those slow moments serve to remind you of how dull life on the submarine must be. The final hour is where the film really kicks it up a notch and really brings together all the personalities you've come to get to know.

It's exactly the same as the film, only longer. If you haven't watched either and have some time, watch this one.