Ah, Das Boot (the boat), I love this movie why, why, you ask? Let's begin at the beginning. Das Boot was a German film made by Bavaria Films released in America in February of 1982. It had a fourteen million dollar budget and was directed by Wolfgang Petersen. The movie is based on the book written by Lothar-Gunther Bucheim who was a war correspondent during World War II. Lothar was attached to a u-boat crew and found out the hard way just what life was like in the boat. I gotta say Petersen did this movie right. From the sets to the models to the look of the actors it all looks like it came from WWII. The director's cut is a little longer than the original at 208 minutes. The commentary on the director's cut is from sixteen years after the original cut and is done primarily by Wolfgang Petersen (the director), Jurgen Prochnow (plays the u-boat captain) and Ortwin Freyermuth (the director's cut producer). The movie opens with some information about the u-boat fleet and the battle over control of the Atlantic that started fantastically for the Germans but now is changing in favor of the American and European forces. We switch to a murky green background and then you see the bow of the u-boat begin to appear slowly, you hear the sonar pinging in the background. We then move to the u-boat in the pens at La Rochelle France where the crew is assembled and awaiting their captain and thus begins one of the best submarine movies. The u-boat set in La Rochelle wasn't a set, it is an actual u-boat pen built in the late thirties/early forties when Germany occupied France (just another reason why this is one of the best u-boat movies) the walls are six meter thick concrete, one of the bays was also used in Raiders of the Lost Ark. Speaking of u-boats in the movie, one was a full size model built from original u-boat plans and was also used in Raiders of the Lost Ark. Other shots of the sub at sea were of an eleven meter miniature with a guy inside driving it, Petersen said the driver got rather seasick at times. Originally, Bavaria Films didn't feel they had the resources to make the movie right so they went to hollywood to get it made. Robert Redford and Paul Newman were both considered to play the u-boat captain but there were big arguments with Bucheim about how the story was being portrayed because hollywood wanted to put an American spin on it, it eventually was shot using a German cast and in German language with subtitles. Later after its popularity soared it was overdubbed in English (by the original actors) some years later. There was also a six hour miniseries version for television made. Basically the movie was shot mostly in the closed set of the sub with the camera following the actors through the sub to give you the claustrophobic feeling of forty eight people living in a metal tube that's twelve feet in diameter by three hundred feet long. No one was taking showers or washing clothes on a regular basis and you had the lovely smell of diesel fuel wafting through the boat thanks to the twin diesel engines that powered the boat on top of the water. It's not a documentary though, it's a drama. Bucheim wasn't impressed with Peterson's film interpretation of his book, he felt Peterson had overdramatized it saying he made an "action flick" out of it. At one point the boat comes across a convoy of ships and torpedos a couple, everybody is happy. At another point they are getting the hell depth charged out of them when one of the most experienced crew members Johann the engine room lead man freaks out and tries to leave the ship (while it's under water...). The real captain of the U-96 (the number of the U-boat in the movie) survived the war and was on the set of the movie during the making of to answer the casts questions. Jurgen was able to get a lot of tips about how he should play the part of captain. All in all I don't think you'll find a better movie that depicts life on a WWII submarine. The blu-ray version of this movie is crisp and clean, the director commentary is the only special feature on it except for subtitles and several language choices. If you want to experience the real thing for yourself, visit the U-505 on display at the Chicago Museum of Science and Industry one of the worlds best (IF NOT THE BEST!!!) static displays of a WW2 u-boat. In the commentary Petersen refers to the 505 in "cheecago" (as he pronounced Chicago with his accent), he used it as a guide for making the interior sets of the movie, the U-505 is one of two remaining type IXC boats from that era left. The S&I museum in Chicago built a thirty five million dollar enclosure for the 505 that's a huge improvement from when it was outside. You can walk around the outside, see the torpedos and tour the inside of the boat and yes the tour guides (at least the one I had) have seen Das Boot.