DAS BOOT - DVD review

The acclaimed "Das Boot", directed by Wolfgang Petersen, requires fans to become quasi-historians in order to figure out what they're watching. In 1981, a 149-minute version debuted in West Germany. The 149-minute version began playing in the U.S. in 1982, and it was nominated for six Oscars the following year (Oscars are given out in the spring of the year after the nominated movies are released). In 1985, a mini-series (six fifty-minute episodes) was shown on West German TV. In 1997, a 210-minute "Director's Cut" was released.

"The Director's Cut" was one of Sony's first DVD releases when it appeared in stores in December of 1997. In 2003, Sony released a SuperBit edition of "The Director's Cut". Now, in 2004, Sony has released "Das Boot: The Original Uncut Version" on DVD. To the best of my knowledge, the 149-minute version was made available in the United States only on VHS tape and LaserDisc.

"Das Boot" is based on a semi-autobiographical novel written by Lothar-Gunther Buchheim. (He's played by Herbert Gronemeyer, as "Lt. Werner", in the movie.) It begins with a German submarine crew celebrating its last night on land before setting off for a months-long at-sea assignment during World War II. Everyone is really young. Even the Captain (Jurgen Prochnow) is no more than thirty-years-old. Once the sailors sets out for sea, they don't see land until the devastating finale.

I never saw the 149-minute version of "Das Boot", but being an admirer of submarine movies like "The Hunt for Red October" and "Crimson Tide", I eagerly bought a ticket for a showing of the 210-minute "Director's Cut" at Cornell University. The movie expertly conveys the claustrophobia, the fears, the hopes, the camaraderie, the jokes, and the political views of men forced to endure difficult circumstances together. By the end of the movie, I was in tears. Yes, the Germans were the "bad guys" of World War II, but in the same way that "Black Hawk Down" focuses on the brotherhood of military men, "Das Boot" is interested in how a military unit functions as a family after a while. Yet, unlike "Black Hawk Down" and like "We Were Soldiers" and "Saving Private Ryan", "Das Boot" never loses sight of the big picture. The movie quietly observes that Nazism is something that will destroy Germany, and the movie also portray's the submariners' mission as a lost cause.

An early offering from Sony, "Das Boot" is spread across two sides of one dual-sided disc. The length of the movie basically precludes it from being presentable on one DVD side without a noticeable loss in quality, though Sony has since wised up to consumer dissatisfaction with flippers and is offering the SuperBit and mini-series versions of the movie as two-disc sets. Also, because early flippers only had single layers on each side (as did most single-sided DVDs), the technical quality of the DVD is not impressive in today's world.

Video:
The 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen image doesn't look very good. There are a lot of muddy underwater shots, and they sometimes look awful on this DVD. The low bit-rates used for the video compression don't help matters, and the less-than-pristine print (filled with dust, scratches, and excessive grain) that was used for the transfer was not a good way to start "Das Boot" on its DVD career. Colors are not as sharp and vibrant as they are with later editions of the movie.

Audio:
The Dolby Digital 5.1 German audio track is loud, active, oppressive, and disturbing--all intentional qualities. You sense the claustrophobia of a submarine as much through the excellent sound design as you do from the movie's visuals. The best bits occur during the submarine's descent into dangerous depths as the hull crumbles and as the ocean pressure forces nuts and bolts to explode off of ship joints. The audio is "immersive" in terms of placing you in the middle of tightly-packed men and equipment, not in terms of placing you in a wide-open field as with other movies. However, the audio is often not as sharp, clean, and clear as the audio offered by either the SuperBit or the "Uncut" DVDs.

Since the principal actors did their own English dubbing, the DD 5.1 English track is an acceptable substitute for those of you who are adamant about not watching in German while reading English subtitles. (In fact, the English dub job for "Das Boot" was often cited as one of the best foreign-language dubbings ever created.) Those of you without 5.1-speaker-set-ups should watch the movie with either the DD 2.0 DD 2.0 surround English track or the DD 2.0 surround Spanish track.

Optional English, Spanish, and French subtitles as well as optional English closed captions support the audio.

Extras:
There's an audio commentary by director Wolfgang Petersen, actor Jurgen Prochnow, and Ortwin Freyermuth (a producer of "The Director's Cut"). In the audio commentary, you learn about how a single full-size submarine replica passes for four in one sequence, how one model was also used by Steven Spielberg for "Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark", how special effects were accomplished for most of the action shots, etc. You even get movie-related travel tips.

There's also a brief "Behind the Scenes" featurette that was created for the 1997 release of "The Director's Cut".

--Miscellaneous--
A fold-out insert provides informative notes about the production as well as chapter listings.

Film Value:
"Das Boot: The Director's Cut" is an amazing experience that deserves a "10" on the DVD Town "10"-scale. However, how you choose to own "Das Boot" is a bit of a dilemma. The "standard" release is a flipper with not-so-desirable video and audio but also with a featurette, an audio commentary, and a handy fold-out insert. The SuperBit is tops in video and audio but has no extras. "The Original Uncut Version" offers the original mini-series, the same featurette as the "standard" DVD, and some trailers. It's up to you which DVD(s) to buy, but it may be difficult justifying buying three (or even two) versions of the same movie, lol.