Das Boot

 

directed by Wolfgang Petersen (1981)

This is the 4:33 director's cut, and holy shit but this is a long movie, already in the start I was thinking, well this scene is completely unnecessary.  I guess it's character development.  I'm thinking particularly of the debauchery at the officer's club.  Sailors gonna drink eh?  Especially with a 1 in 4 chance of coming out alive?  Jesus Christ those are bad odds.  I'd make sure and get my party on too.

Actually it's the 3:28 directors cut.  I was thinking near what seemed like was gonna be the climax, there's another 1:30 to go?  So I checked out the running times and there are FIVE different versions of the movie, ranging from 2:20 to a 6 hour miniseries.  The DVR recorded another show at the end of the movie, which is why I was all confuzzled.

• 150 minutes (1981, 1982) Theatrical
• 209 minutes (1981) unreleased
• 300 minutes (1984, 1988) BBC mini-series
• 293 minutes (2004) Das Boot: The Original Uncut Version
• 208 minutes (1997, 2010) Director's Cut

It's refreshing seeing a military centred flick that isn't outright propaganda for the military.  This isn't jingoistic or glorifying of military life.  It looks rough and barbaric in the sub, with men living on top of each other.  They'd sure be close, everyone aware of how much they depend on one  another.  There's no every man for himself in a sub, they'd all die together, one fate.

Lothar G. Buchheim, the writer of the novel, was upset that the film sacrificed realism for action melodrama, also that it was too glorifying of the U-boat war heroes.  I think his book must have been very antiwar, since I felt it was condemning of the idiocy of armed conflict, but then I bring that attitude and belief along to every war flick I see.  I thought it was life affirming and moral to see a film that depicted the ugliness of wasted resources, manpower, all this effort exerted towards what?  Killing and death and destruction?  Madness!!!

The best part is when the Captain is saying I'm sorry to the journalist.  They're in a tight spot and things look grim.

Lt. Werner: Captain?
Captain: I'm sorry.
Lt. Werner: You think it's hopeless now?
Captain: It's been 15 hours. He'll never do it. I'm sorry.
Lt. Werner: They made us all train for this day. "To be fearless and proud and alone. To need no one, just sacrifice. All for the Fatherland." Oh God, all just empty words. It's not the way they said it was, is it? I just want someone to be with. The only thing I feel is afraid.

I enjoyed it, and I usually don't care much for war flicks, this one is exceptional though.  It's completely understandable how many awards it won.  And Jürgen Prochnow?!!  Whatta man, whatta man, what a mighty good man.  ;) 

My only complaint is very minor.  I didn't like the dubbed voice of the redheaded codesman.  He was all squashed and strangled sounding.  It might have added some to the funny though, since he's the comic relief, cracking wise with cynical aphorisms.  Incidentally, the movie was shot silent because the sub was so noisy.  They could have got anyone to do the voices.  I'm glad Prochnow did his English lines too.

Max (2002)

written/directed by Menno Meyjes (2002)

Max Rothman, (John Cusack), is a one armed art dealer who takes young Hitler under his wing and encourages him to open himself up to new ideas and branch out into abstract art.  It's based on a play and was produced by John Cusack. Whatever, I think this is a rude flick.  Hitler was a terrible man and this is an unnecessary story that does nothing to illuminate the human condition.  It's a cheap way to give a story gravitas by making it about Hitler.  It humanises Hitler some, but is that admirable?  It's all made up too, and I hate the idea of people thinking Hitler came "THIS CLOSE" to not being the 20th Century's greatest villain.  It's not like Hitler really had an art dealer taking an interest in him and amping up his Jew hatred due to the condescending manner Cusack displays towards him.  Hitler wanted to be an architect, and applied for a scholarship before he became a soldier, his artistic aspirations were behind him after The Great War.

Speilberg passed on the project because he didn't want to dishonour Holocaust survivors, but encouraged Menno Meyjes to follow through on his screenplay.  John Cusack was an associate producer and he gave up his salary to help the project along.

I enjoyed the depictions of the art scene, and Hitler's distase for the decadence within that arena was well displayed, with his bitterness and all, shining bright due to Noah Taylor's ranting spit flying oratory skills.  Seeing Hitler getting trained in the art of propaganda was a nice touch too, and a good way to show that Hitler was a man of his time.  His racist beliefs weren't of his own creation, hatred of Jews and Gypsies and "lower" classes, were commonplace and everywhere, and still are. The Nazis were simply very effective at harnessing and channelling that powerfully destructive and ugly reality.  Sexism, racism, ethnic cleansing, war, othering....it's not like we've come a long way, baby! really very much at all when we consider the big picture.

There's a great scene where Max puts on a performance piece about war - very avante garde dadaesque speechifying about propaganda against a backdrop of a giant meat grinder.  Max lost his arm in WWI, and his fake arm puppet floats into the grinder and the piece ends with him seemingly slowly sinking into the grinder, while red clay oozes out the front through the grinder holes.  Meat for the war machine.  Hitler is incensed.  Disgusting!! he shrieks and stomps out.

Best line? c'mon Hitler! I'll buy you a lemonade!

The movie pushed buttons for me.  On the one hand it's an interesting what if story, but it's about HITLER and it's all fictional bullshit!  On a metaphorical level there is some truth but I kept bumping up against the fact that really it's lies, lies, lies.   And it's so melodramatic too, with an OMG so stupid tragic ending.  Puhleez.  I did like the political machinations shown.  Even though I believe that it's inevitable that current knowledge of political realities inform interpretations of the past, what is shown is still very interesting. The movie highlights the development of propaganda in support of wedge politics, where hatred of one group is used to consolidate and leverage political power.  It's still a very valid strategy, but one that has become more nuanced and less overt.  Code words are used now and it's more based on class divisions than racial ones.  Though ethnic and cultural divisions are strong still too.  Just goes to show you , that we've still got a long way to go, baby!