My late father served in the Royal Navy in WWII and was torpedoed by a U Boat, so when I sat with him to watch this in 1986, I fully expected him to be filled with hatred for them. Nothing could have been further from the truth. He told me that seamen, even those on opposite sides, share something unique. He told me that his ship picked up some U Boat survivors from a ramming. They were just ordinary men doing the bidding of their masters, just like he was. They were put down at Scapa Flow as POW's after being at sea for 5 weeks. Many of them had formed friendships with the Royal Navy men, including my father. He formed a friendship with a submariner called Gotz Stiffel and they remained friends until Gotz passed away. My father attended his funeral in Duisburg and he was welcomed as an old friend by the survivors of that U Boat sinking. My father said that film bought tears to his eyes. They were just ordinary men caught up in extraordinary times and this film captured everything from fear to boredom and relief. He said, and I utterly agreed with him this was just about the finest anti-war film ever made.

I've decided not to review the 1981 dubbed cinematic release of DAS BOOT . Instead I've decided to review Wolfgang Petersen's director's cut which is far closer to the miniseries version which most readers will be familiar with

When someone makes an anti war statement it's important that they differentiate between being " anti war " and " anti military " . The Brits don't seem to know the difference and seem keen to make anti- military / anti - soldier self loathing war movies with Paul Greengrass's RESURRECTED a good example . Having suffered the tragedy of Vietnam the Americans finally made anti- war movies that were a million miles removed from the old John Wayne and Errol Flynn star vehicles where a man wipes out 30 enemy soldiers single handed without suffering a scratch . But when it comes to making anti - war movies that shows the horrors of war and the courage of men in battle the Germans are top of the league , heads and shoulders above everyone else . This is because present day Germans realize that the enemy isn't the other side - it's war itself that's the enemy and DAS BOOT is a great example of this thinking

The story starts slowly by introducing us to the crew via the war correspondent who are celebrating a last night ashore before they sail on their mission to sink British convoys sailing from America to Britain carrying vital supplies for the war effort against Nazi Germany . This is where DAS BOOT is superb , I really felt empathy for these crew man . Okay I didn't want them sinking British ships but I didn't want them to die either an opinion that shouldn't be taken lightly since my paternal grandfather was a merchant seaman during the war while my maternal grandfather was a crewman on a destroyer . The fact the crew of U-96 are presented as being utterly human and for this Brit hoping they make it home in one piece is a great achievement

DAS BOOT was nominated for several Oscars and it's not difficult to see why. Watch it on widescreen television with stereo surround and you'll be amazed with the very clear sound effects and sound editing . Perhaps the best technical aspect is the cinematography where during moments of crisis the camera shoots along the length of the U- boat as it follows crewmen rushing about . When a foreign language movie is nominated for several Oscars you just know it's good

!!!!! SLIGHT SPOILERS !!!!

This is a superb movie but it's not perfect . Being a German movie Nazis feature at one point but none of them are crew members , the only Nazis featured are the crew of a supply ship who have who have never seen a days fighting in their lives . It's understandable for German film makers to play down the courage of Nazi party members of the Second World War but it should also be remembered that the Waffan SS were exclusively composed of party members and they were the most feared fighting force of the conflict . CROSS OF IRON ( My favourite movie featuring WW 2 ) does make the valid point that because someone isn't a fan of the Nazis it doesn't necessarily make them a good person either . The screenplay also drags due to the fact that there's two subplots of U-96 being damaged and stuck on the Atlantic seabed when one subplot of sinking and then resurrecting the vessel would have sufficed

But the pros far outweigh the cons and I recommend this movie to people who have never seen a foreign language film in their life . It's placing in the IMDb top 250 is well earned . You may be shocked to know that director Wolgang Petersen later went onto to make Hollywood crap like OUTBREAK and A PERFECT STORM

This is an amazing achievement, and it's obvious because it is one of the only German language films to receive widespread distribution in American theaters since the silent era. It was just that good! When it came to America, the movie was cut down a little from it's original HUGE length and it was released in both dubbed and subtitled versions.

The film is about a single WWII German U-boat and it follows it through a very hazardous mission until it eventually makes it back to port. While this may not sound very interesting, it certainly is, as the movie is less a traditional movie but an experience meant to instill in the audience the daily life and horror of serving on one of these submarines. For example, when the sub is being pursued, you find yourself tense, on edge and feeling the claustrophobia of the crewmen. Viscerally, it is an amazing film and remains a true and faithful film--the crew is extraordinary but they are hardly romanticized--they are just men doing their best to stay alive! To top all this off, when the movie concludes, there is the most fitting and inspired ending I have seen in a war film. Like anything you've seen from Hollywood? No way--this is like real life in all its starkness and terror.