Das Boot by Wolfgang Petersen is one of the most successful German movies of all time. Released in 1981, it was a springboard for many people involved with the film, and today it is considered a modern classic. It has been exported to countless countries and rerun constantly on TV, and it was re-issued several times as a director’s cut and as the 300-minute TV version. In 1997, the former was even shown again in movie theaters. Its huge success is probably a little astonishing, given the topic of the movie: the Atlantic voyage of a Nazi submarine on a quest to destroy British cargo ships.
The idea of Germans making a WWII blockbuster was frowned upon at first, but, in addition to its state-of-the-art execution, its thrilling suspense, its enormous tragedy, and its occasionally light moments, the tone and characters have been drawn so very carefully that, in the end, it's not important on whose side the soldiers are fighting. The merit of the movie, as Petersen himself has said in several interviews during the movie’s release, is that it gives a truthful picture of the submarine soldiers on the front, regardless of nationality. He pointed out that this was the very first time that a German war movie did not explicitly discuss Germany’s guilt, as had been done over and over before, but rather the many faces of the war and its individual fates.
"One of the most successful German movies of all time. Released in 1981, it was a springboard for many people involved with the film, and today it is considered a modern classic."
That said, Das Boot does indeed mention the many questionable decisions made by both Hitler and Karl Dönitz, the supreme commander of the U-boat fleet. It also uses many filmic devices to shed a dark light on the Nazi regime, such as a fly crawling over a portrait of Dönitz or the obscene Nazi riches stored in neutral Spain. Interestingly enough, there is only one “true” Nazi on board, the First Watch Officer, and he is depicted as a rather unlikable fellow, constantly ridiculed by the rest of the crew. However, Das Boot does not primarily deal with the war in regards to ideology but rather morality and humanity.
The actors have been praised the world over for their convincing performances, especially when it comes to their physical and mental decline in the claustrophobic submarine, where they’re torn between idleness and fear. Jürgen Prochnow has since starred in many Hollywood productions (The English Patient, The Da Vinci Code, Air Force One) and you don’t have to be a film expert to have heard about the famous director Wolfgang Petersen (Enemy Mine, The Perfect Storm, The NeverEnding Story, Troy). Also, the list of actors who are still successful in Germany is very impressive: Heinz Hönig, Uwe Ochsenknecht, Martin Semmelrogge, Claude-Oliver Rudolph, Ralph Richter, Jan Fedder, and Otto Sander are all very acclaimed actors. Lt. Werner, the war correspondent who serves as a narrator in one of the versions of Das Boot, is played by Herbert Grönemeyer, who has quit the movie business and has become one of Germany’s most successful singers.
Due to the intentionally clipped speech of some of the actors and the occasionally poor sound mixing, viewers will inevitably miss various utterances during the movie. Nevertheless, many different accents are noticeable. The higher the rank, the less distinct the accent or colloquial speech. High Nazi officers speak a very orderly, pronounced High German, while the average soldier brings with him the vernacular of his home town.
"The actors have been praised the world over for their convincing performances, especially when it comes to their physical and mental decline in the claustrophobic submarine, where they’re torn between idleness and fear."
Maat Pilgrim, who is played by Jan Fedder, probably has the most obvious dialect in the movie, as he speaks a strong Hamburgisch. About half an hour into the movie, he greets Lt. Werner with a loud “Moin, moin!,” the North German way of saying “Hello.” He goes on about the poor food and discusses the benefits of having chicken on board, and while doing so, he adds “… ne?” to his sentences, an equivalent to the English “… right?” applied for emphasis. Another feature of Hamburgisch is that the /tt/ sound turns into /dd/, so that “bitte” becomes “bidde,” while the /st/ sound turns into /ss/, making "hast du" into "hassu." Also, there is the shortening of words: “ma” (from "mal"), “nich” (from "nicht"), and “komm” (from "kommen").
The Second Watch Officer, meanwhile, is played by Martin Semmelrogge, who speaks with a Berlin accent, recognizable but not too strong. He acts as the comic relief of the movie, and some of that has to do with his vernacular, which has a ribald ring to it. Most famously, he exclaims: “Denn ma’ ran an die Buletten!” while leaving Spain. It’s a typical Berlin saying, literally translated as “Let’s get those meatballs!,” which means something along the lines of: “Don’t let us miss out on this opportunity!” Chief mechanic Johann (played by Erwin Leder) is from Vienna, and he speaks with a distinct Austro-Bavarian accent. When he is asked if he enjoys the fresh air, he spits into the water and firmly replies: “Nah” (from "nein"). When Lt. Werner gets hit on the face by a greasy cloth, somebody says something about “durchprobiere” and “ansetze,” which depicts the most striking feature of the Swabian dialect, the omitting of the /n/ sound in the infinitive verb form. There are many more dialects represented, like the Mannheim or Ruhr dialects. The English version of the movie has been dubbed by the actors themselves, which is why the film remains very close to the original even in its dubbed form.
