Wednesday 18 August 2010

(500) Films of Empire - Day 337

263 - Das Boot - 4 stars
A taut, tense, claustrophobic film that really puts you in the same position as the crew of "the boat". We join Lt Werner, a war correspondant, who joins the German crew of a U-Boat on a mission towards the end of WWII.
The first hour introduces us to the crew and we get the usual stereoptypical characters such as the war-fatigued captain, the fresh faced newbie, the by-the-book officer, etc, etc. You spend time with the men so that the expected events that come later on will mean more on an emotional level.
Only those expected events never quite happen. Yes, there is an attack on the u-boat that causes them to sink and there is a race against time to repair the ship. But there isn't people dropping dead left, right and centre or sacrificing themselves for the lives of others that you normally get in a Hollywood movie. Then I remembered that this WASN'T a Hollywood movie, but one of the most expensive and critically acclaimed German films ever made. It is good but for a German look at war there is still no better film than Downfall.

Days remaining - 28 Films remaining - 29

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