| The
Review: |
In "Das Boot," director Wolfgang
Petersen combines sharp storytelling tactics and dizzying
action sequences with such intelligence and attention to detail
that blinking is absolutely out of the question. From its
foreboding opening shot of a looming submrged submarine, every
frame of this picture is sheer magnificence, every nuance
of its creation a deft blend of energy and heart; in short,
it's perhaps the most exquisite and smart piece on submarine
warfare ever constructed for the silver screen. ***
Petersen's film focuses on the
factual events of the German U-Boat U-96, which set sail in
1942 at a time when German power in the Atlantic was beginning
to dwindling. The vessel's captain, Hans-Jürgen Hellriegel
(Jürgen Prochnow), is a hard-hearted mariner whose experience
at sea in previous years have conditioned his harsh attitude
towards the Fuhrer's decision to place young boys on these
ships ("These boys should still be at home suckling Mother's
breast," he later says). Of the vast amount of characters,
Hellriegel is the most intriguing for his vast knowledge of
warfare on the high seas, and his concern for his crew, whose
inexperience he fears will render them helpless in times of
battle. ***
The script divides the story into
distinct sections, beginning with the submarine's first weeks
at sea. We're introduced to crew life, the operations and
maneuvers performed aboard the ship, and some small emotional
vignettes involving select crew members. It is here that we
have our first real chance to experience the life of living
in a submarine, which is aided by Petersen's extreme attention
to the smallest technical details. His sets are small, claustrophobic
spaces with a continuous hallway that runs the entire length
of the sub, while details like control panels and other operational
devices have not been ignored. ***
I also noticed that much of the
movie derives its tension from Petersen's adept pacing skills.
In this first segment of the movie, the material is slow-moving
in its development of character and craft, evoking the boredom
and listless living aboard the vessel quite effectively. And
then, the scream of "ALARM!" pierces the silence, and the
men are running back and forth in a calculated frenzy, heading
for battle stations, making ready for combat that, at times,
turns out to be a false alarm or failed attempt. The director
juxtaposes these instances magnificently, incorporating a
distinct tension in slower scenes that builds us up for the
greater suspense to follow. ***
The midsection of the film is comprised
of three main battle sequences: the craft's encounter with
a pair of British destroyers, a skirmish with a fleet of enemy
vessels in the middle of the Atlantic, and the sub's attempt
to make it through the Strait of Gibraltar to the Mediterranean
Sea, where they will return to port. Aside from the precision
of these sequences, which I will further explain shortly,
these events bring us into an experience no one is soon to
forget. We forget about the nature of the war, as well as
which side these men are fighting for, and become involved
in their peril on a more human level. We feel for these men
not as enemy soldiers, but as heroes in their own fight to
stay alive once things appear to have come to a close. ***
Petersen's movie also does for
the Germans what other war movies have been too skittish to
accomplish: it shows a human side to them. In a scene in which
the submarine comes across a burning enemy tanker, they fire
upon it unaware that men are still on board. Unable to help
the remaining survivors swimming to no avail, Captain Hellriegel
pulls away; later, we see remorse in his eyes and his words.
I applaud the filmmakers for this approach; in any other film,
we would see the Germans as heartless bastards, but this piece
avoids one-sidedness, possessing the courage to reveal something
too many of us have been all-too-willing to ignore. ***
Backing this human drama is the
expertly-crafted technical aspect of the drama. The battle
sequences carry their weight in suspense and energy, resounding
from Petersen's frenetic shifting between scenes of motionless
men awaiting the next blast from a depth charge to dizzying
instances of fear and peril as the men are rocked in all directions.
***
This experience is as close to
firsthand as one could get without actually being there. The
camera moves with expert handling throughout the sub, its
elongated tracking shots following the men in their frenzy
to save their vessel, its tight shots of the sailors' faces
relating to the audience a state of unparalleled fear. Petersen
also masters his shifting between interior and exterior shots
of the action without losing a single beat of intensity. His
interior shots, however, are much more effective in their
use of sound effects to evoke a sense of dread and danger
lurking outside; hearing ships passing overhead, as well as
the thunderous blasts of the depth charges, gives us a sense
of the miniscule size of the submarine, and just how fragile
it really is. ***
And then there is the ending, a
brilliant allegory for the harsh reality that war is inescapable,
even once in the safety of home. The initial shock one feels
at what happens here appears to be out of the feeling that
Petersen is being unfair to his characters, but upon deeper
examination, it resonates into something of great power and
meaning. As a movie, "Das Boot" is a series of super-charged
moments and powerful instances that collectively add up to
something equally moving as a whole. As an experience, it
is, quite simply, mesmerizing, unflinching, and unforgettable.
|
| Image
and Sound |
Considering
how many titles in Columbia's Superbit line are those that
were previously blessed with pristine transfers, it's nice
to see the studio give one of their older films like "Das
Boot" the remaster it deserves. The single-disc release back
in 1997 looked good enough, and still holds up quite well,
but this Superbit transfer is much better. The image has been
cleaned up rather nicely, with very little film grain or artifacts
apparent, and source print blemishes have vanished completely.
Colors, although subdued, look accurate given the context
of various scenes, and contrast is superb, with solid blacks
and shadow detail that is nicely rendered. Clarity has also
been improved upon, with sharper image detail and an overall
lack of enhancement halos. In a smart move, Columbia has chosen
to spread the movie over two discs, so as not to compromise
space and bit rate. ***
The sound
comes in three different options: two German-language tracks
(one DTS, the other Dolby Digital), and an English Dolby 2.0
Surround option, which is pretty much pointless. The other
two audio tracks, however, are superb! Both the DTS and Dolby
tracks come with a full arsenal of sound effects and action
scenes that truly shine in terms of sound envelopment; imaging
is in full force here, with surrounds actively engaged for
most of the presentation, and deep bass from the .1 LFE making
a strong statement for the low end, which is used generously
throughout. Dialogue sounds very good here as well, and front-end
separation is also commendable. The DTS has a slightly higher
advantage here, but the Dolby performs just as well, too.
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