They won’t catch us this time! Not this time! They haven’t spotted us! No, they’re all snoring in their bunks! Or, you know what? They’re drinking at the bar, celebrating our sinking! Not yet, my friends. Not yet!

I know how being stuck at home during this quarantine is doing me so I can only imagine what life was like on a German U-Boat during WWII…a place I wouldn’t want to be. The 1981 German film “Das Boot”gives you a first hand glimpse into the cramp quarters, dangerous and unnerving quiet of the sea and the stir crazy. This one was well-acted and the cast was great and the film leaves you tattered and broken in the end…just like the crew aboard “das boot.” This film was so good that it spawned a TV mini series in 1985 and another TV series, currently streaming on Hulu, in 2018. “Das Boot” was even nominated for 6 Oscars that year, for “Best Director” (Wolfgang Petersen) and some of the other technical categories.

The attention to detail in this film was on point. I can only imagine how tough it was to film this. The only thing that kind of lessened the impact of this film for me were some of the scenes when the crew was up on the upper deck and you could tell that they weren’t really out at sea…the visual effects looked really 1980s. But hey, what do you expect…it fit the times. Interesting side-note: originally filmed in German, all of the major actors could speak English…when the movie was dubbed into English for USA and UK distribution, all of the principal actors actually dubbed their own voices into English (I watched with subtitles). Overall, this is a good war movie that’s suspenseful and leaves you on the edge of your seat. I recommend giving this one a watch.

Currently available to rent on Amazon Prime Video.