Take photos of the crew returning, not putting out to sea.

Why?

They'll have beards by then... it would shame the Brits to see mere boys give them hell. Baby faces... who should still suck Mama's breast. I feel ancient around these kids, like I'm on some children's crusade.

This 1981 submarine movie (labelled the 'definitive submarine movie') drew international recognition for director Wolfgang Petersen and opened doors for him to direct several Hollywood feature films, including "Enemy Mine", "Shattered", "In the Line of Fire", and more recently, "Air Force One".

During the Second World War, German U-Boats prowled the waters of the Atlantic Ocean, preying on transports that ferried Allied supplies. They were sleek, deadly, and attacked with impunity... or maybe not. "Das Boot" deconstructs the myths of the valiant German submarines and their valorous crews who steadfastly defended their Fatherland in a series of decisive tactical strikes. In reality, the U-Boats were cramped (you had to drop everything you were doing and stand up whenever anyone wanted to pass by), dehumanising (with no such thing as privacy in the crowded crew quarters), and cesspools for various forms of pestilence, such as crab lice. Though they could run silently beneath the surface, the lack of visual cues underwater made it difficult for the crews to actually find their targets, and they were easily tracked by enemy destroyers armed with depth charges. Wolfgang Peterson effectively uses steadicam cinematography (such as the dynamic battle scenes, with follow shots of sailors running the entire length of the vessel to pass orders along), tightly-composed shots, and long spells of anticipation to effectively convey the claustrophobia, helplessness, lack of morale, and maddening sense of expectation on board a U-Boat.

Based on the novel by Lothar-Gunther Buchheim, DB follows one U-Boat mission, that begins with the clean-shaven and eager young men reporting for duty under the command of the war-weary Captain (Jurgen Prochnow) who openly criticises the wisdom of the Third Reich. Among the men reporting for duty are a mentally unstable Chief Engineer (Klaus Wenneman), a party-line spouting First Lieutenant (Hubertus Bengsch), and a news correspondent (Herbert Groenemeyer), who serves as the eyes and ears of the audience. As they carry out their mission, we come to know some of the crew members, we watch them wait in fear as the vessel reaches depths which strain the hull's integrity, and suffocate alongside with them as the air begins to slowly run out. DB humanises the enemy, putting a face on the Nazi Germany war machine, and also drives home the point that regardless of what side you are on, in a war, we are all victims. The tone of the film is decidedly apologetic, an extension of the post-war German angst over the horrors committed during W.W.II-- a good example of this is when the U-Boat crew actually sink a freighter. They accomplish their mission, but they must also watch the crew of the sinking ship burn and drown.

One of the great things about the Director's Cut is that it adds back about an hour of footage cut out from the original theatrical release, bumping up the running time to three-and-a-half hours. This extra footage fleshes out some of the secondary characters, making the tribulations that they endure and the tragic ending that more poignant. However, the downside of the new footage is that the interminable cat-and-mouse waiting game that the crew plays is accentuated further, which slows the pacing considerably, making it difficult to watch in one sitting.

If you enjoyed "Das Boot" in its original theatrical release, you will definitely enjoy the Director's Cut, which provides a more complete portrayal of events on board a U-Boat. And if you have never seen "Das Boot", you will short-change yourself by watching anything else but the Director's Cut.

When DAS BOOT was originally released in the U.S. in 1982, the film's enormous success was a surprise. A sub-titled German war movie a hit? It sounded absurd. And yet the astonishing level of filmmaking and deeply felt anti-war message gripped audiences to their chairs as they witnessed the never-before-seen story of German U-boat soldiers riding the bottom of the ocean.

DAS BOOT forever changed audiences' expectations of unrelenting tension and visceral authenticity in an action film. DAS BOOT set a new standard for high-wire suspense and broke fresh technological ground. It also became the most successful foreign film ever released in the United States nominated for six Academy Awards and shattering box office records and continues to be one of the most popular foreign films on the video shelves.

Now a new generation of moviegoers will have a unique opportunity to experience the director's "ideal" cut of DAS BOOT in the theatres complete with newly added footage and re-designed digital sound that bring this action classic to state-of-the-art standards for today's audiences.

Wolfgang Petersen, who emerged from DAS BOOT to become one of Hollywood's most sought-after directors ("In The Line of Fire," "Outbreak," the forthcoming "Air Force One"), oversaw re-editing from more than six hours of original footage into his own personal vision of the ultimate DAS BOOT journey. Petersen also supervised restoration of the negative, along with his original cinematographer Jost Vacano, reprinting onto today's colour-rich film stock. The filmmaker's sound team completely redesigned and re-recorded new sound effects for the film's Oscar-nominated sound and musical score to bring it up to today's highest digital standards.

The final result is one of the most extensive enhancements efforts ever undertaken by a director on his classic motion picture, similar to the massive restoration of the "Star Wars" trilogy by George Lucas.

Subtle changes throughout the film add new depth to the lives and relationships between the men on the boat, further heightening the suspense as they plummet to the sea floor with only a slim hope of survival. The state-of-the-art sound and film quality Ñ taking the realism of every ping and creak to a new level  further adds to the minute-by-minute build-up of tension on the submarine.

"Here we had a rare and unprecedented opportunity to take one of the most intense movie experiences ever created and bring it up to the expectations of 1990's audiences," says Ortwin Freyermuth, who produced the restored director's cut of DAS BOOT. "It is amazing how well the film stands up even fifteen years later, perhaps because it was so ahead of its time originally. It is not only one of the most riveting action movies ever made, it continues to be one of the all-time most successful depictions of the human experience of war audiences really feel the fear, the tension, the excitement, the boredom, the desires, the hopes and the incredible tragedy of these young men on the U-boat as they were used and abused by a war machine."

"My vision for DAS BOOT was always to show the gritty and terrible reality of war, and to combine it with a highly entertaining story and fast-paced action style that would pull audiences into the experience of these young men out there," says Wolfgang Petersen. "This cut represents my ideal version of that experience. Thanks to new technology, the film now comes even closer to revealing the shocking realities of life in a U-boat -- the way it sounded, the way it felt, the way it affected people so strongly -- and I think that this new cut will be even more shocking and affecting for audiences."

This review is not written by me but gives a good picture of the film and if you want a evening with a spectacular war, watch this film. It gave me a claustrophobic feeling and is the most realistic film I ever seen, with one exception. "Stalingrad" is as realistic as this one, if not even more.

Conny Lindquist