nan | 楠木

Das Boot was the film that put Wolfgang Petersen’s name on the map, and is probably still the German director’s best work (which highlights how hard it is for foreign directors to be both commercially and critically successful in Hollywood – just compare John Woo’s body of works in HK and the US). Running at three-and-a-half-hours long, the Director’s Cut is a intense viewing experience which literally brings the audience underwater and into the greasy, smelly confinement of a German U-Boat in WWII.

Technically, the film is astounding to watch. It is easy to see how meticulously the sets were constructed – and very early on the moving camera work (which was a smaller scale version of a Steadicam, according to Wikipedia) beautifully establishes the space of the U-Boat in a long take.

The ensemble cast gave a magnificent performance. So much of the film’s tension in its action sequences hinged upon close-ups of the crew’s expressions, and the tension was real. It was as if you could breathe and smell the claustrophobic surroundings and the immense fear of the unknown – in this case, where the British destroyers lurked above and when will the depth charges descend. The germans’ only defensive strategy seemed to be “wait until they run out of depth charges”, so the fear was tremendous.

The film’s ending, which felt like a small twist but was also logical given the grand scheme of things, strengthens the core theme that war is ugly and there can be no victors. The last shot before the credits reminded me of the black and white era – I don’t exactly know why – and the sheer chaos and myriad emotions conveyed in that one scene is simply haunting.

8/10