In 2022, a great German filmmaker left us: Wolfgang Petersen. If you only know The Neverending Story and Troy, you can watch the best version of his most important project on Netflix: The Boat.
The war film is based on a novel and real experiences
The boat is based on a novel by Lothar-Günther Buchheim, who gained insight into everyday naval life as a war correspondent during the Second World War.
The film is also told from this perspective. In 1941, Lieutenant Werner (Herbert Grönemeyer) is assigned as a reporter on a submarine commanded by a nameless roughneck (Jürgen Prochnow). U 96 is tasked with to sink English transport ships in the Atlantic. However, everyday life on the vehicle has little to do with heroism, but rather is characterized by boredom, fear and extreme tension.
Why the war film is still worthwhile today
Elaborate sets, expert advice and the ensemble around Jürgen Prochnow, Herbert Grönemeyer, Heinz Hoenig, Martin Semmelrogge and Uwe Ochsenknecht guaranteed a rarely seen, authentic insight into everyday life during the Atlantic War. The film, released in 1981, was considered one of the most complex German productions ever and also made waves internationally, including six Oscar nominations.
Which versions of Das Boot are there?
The film’s release policy is likely to cause confusion, at least among newcomers. Because there isn’t just one Theatrical versionone Series version and one Director’s Cutbut a TV film version and the director’s cut in different lengths.
To put it simply, the best version in film length is the director’s cut of Das Boot, which is between 200 and 208 minutes long and was first published by Wolfgang Petersen in 1997. It offers a worthwhile compromise between the length of a submarine’s life, the characterization of its crew and the sudden danger of death in a confrontation with the enemy. This version streams in the purchase and rental versions from various providers. But make sure that it is really the director’s cut, not the shorter theatrical version.
The very best version of Das Boot is streaming on Netflix
For the Overall best version of Das Boot you have to invest more time. This is what it is about Series version (not to be confused with the recently produced series Das Boot). This is the closest thing to the book. The series tells the story in six episodes lasting approximately 50 minutes. She delves more intensively into the dead time on board the submarine, that is, the perfidious boredom of war, which can constantly change.
The series version, which is around 309 minutes long, streams as a subscription to Netflix, Magenta TV and ARD+.
This article was first published in a similar form on Moviepilot in August 2023.