Das Boot - Jake Lyon

Title/Year: Das Boot, 1981
Director/DOB: Wolfgang Petersen, Germany, 1941
Budget: $14,000,000
Gross: $73,482,661
Synopsis: The film opens with a title saying "40,000 men were sent out on German U-boats, 30,000 never returned" It is 1941 and the Nazi fleet has taken a beating. Over the past couple years the British fleet has become increasingly keen at hunting U-boats and now a the crew of U-96 must continue the Nazi naval campaign of ambushing allied supply convoys accompanied by the U.S. and British navy. Capt. Lt. Henrich Lehmann-Willenbrock is introduced as a drunken disgruntled sailor, fed up with Nazi party ideology. As their mission proceeds, they sit and wait, but opportunities to sink convoys pass them bye. Finally they receive a mission to sink a convoy and take it without hesitation. They ambush an oil tanker and torpedo it, but are then ambushed themselves by a british destroyer. With lots of damage to the sub, they dive passed the sub's limits, increasing the damage and injuring the crew. They repair the sub, and miraculously rise to the surfaces hours after the destroyer has left. When they reach the surface they survey the damaged oil tanker and hit it with another torpedo for good measure. As the tanker sinks, survivors swim up to the U-boat begging for rescue. They crew denies them in violation of maritime law with hesitance. They then proceed to a friendly port to resupply, repair, and accept a suicide mission. With no other options, the capt. leads the sub into the straight of Gibraltar in an attempt to dive under the british fleet and reach the Mediterranean. They encounter fierce resistance from the British fleet and are badly damaged, sinking again past the subs limits. They again repair and surface passing the fleet and reaching the Mediterranean. Upon their arrival they are hailed as heros with a big celebration. Spirits are high, then, an allied airstrike kills them all, the end.
Key Words: Nazi Party, maritime, naval fleet, u-boats, the war in the atlantic
Political/Social Commentary: The film takes a human perspective, portraying the older officers as disgruntled and sick of bureaucracy. We see the Capt question Nazi ideology when drunk, making a speech at the opening ball. The young officers are clearly buying into the Nazi propaganda, but are still portrayed as human, thinking twice and showing signs of guilt when they're forced to turn away survivors of the crippled oil tanker. In the film we see the leaders constantly questioning their leaders, the Nazi Party. The reporter, who is eager to use their situation to generate propaganda, eventually becomes disgruntled himself and loses the will to document. The crew forms a bond that is more important than the goals of the Nazi party, in the end, it's about survival.
Character Arc: Through out the film, the Capt. carries the same ideology. He disagrees with the Nazi's but does his job for his crew. The rest of the crew experiences a metamorphoses. As morale is depleted, they begin to question their leaders and the strength and intelligence of Nazi party officials.