Arte: Le Bateau, the masterpiece that the Americans wanted to torpedo

Autumn of 1941. second World War. La Rochelle base. On the eve of a routine mission in the North Atlantic, the crew of a German submarine celebrates. They dance and drink as if there is no tomorrow. For them it will be… because they don’t know that out of 40,000 German U-boats only 10,000 will make it home…

Obviously there were already underwater movies before Das Boot, especially on the Hollywood side; A subgenre of the war film that is very popular among moviegoers. But what must be said directly: no one has yet come close to Wolfgang Petersen’s masterpiece, which 41 years ago (already…) presented the absolute standard of the genre, but also his best film.

Filled with tense sequences, the odyssey and ordeal of these 42 submarines, commanded by the excellent Jürgen Prokhnov, is made all the more exciting by the filmmaker’s brilliant use of Steadycam, which pans everywhere inside the submarine. Literally claustrophobic life.

Extreme realism and, moreover, by largely experienced actors, dedicated body and soul during the 170-day shooting; A 70 m long steel coffin “captive”, extreme heat, between the real mold. And even forced to multiply the waterway in buckets for 13 hours, in a sequence with the submarine cracking everywhere after receiving numerous depth charges from Allied destroyers circling the surface.

Less than a year after Petersen’s death, the Artes channel had the good idea to air a double program on April 24. First director’s cut (3:17 p.m.), 8:50 p.m.; Followed by an excellent 52′ documentary on the film, The Boat: The Story of an Underwater Blockbuster, at 12.10am.

“I’m not filming on my boat with these motherfuckers!”

Released in 1973 in France under this name Styx, the novel was written by Lothar Buchheim. Lieutenant and worked in the propaganda service in Nazi Germany, in 1941 he was appointed to St. U-96 submarineAs a war correspondent. From this rich and painful experience, his novel was born, which was a triumph in bookstores.

The right to make the film was bought by the German Bavarian studio. Without waiting for the final script and casting, he began the construction of two steel replicas of the U-Boot, 70 m long, which will host future filming. The construction, the slate of which already amounted to almost 2.5 million German marks, or about 1.3 million euros. A very large amount for that time.

Gunther Rohrbach, the head of the Bavarian studios, understands that the company will be very expensive and then tries to Das Boot A co-production with the United States approaching Colombia. The recipient, Major then sends two experienced filmmakers, not least, to oversee the project. John Sturgess, director of The Magnificent Seven, and Don Siegel, director of Detective Harry.

The author of the novel, for whom this film tells a part of his life, strongly opposes this attempt to control the American studio: “I’m not filming on my boat with these motherfuckers!” He would let her go. In fact, it was the Americans who wanted to make the film, with a script where the Germans were too Manichean. Actor Herbert Groenemeyer comments in the documentary, which he portrays Das Boot Lieutenant Werner, war correspondent aboard a submarine and true cinematic double of the novel’s author.

Faced with this sling, Colombia backs down and abandons the project. Gunther Rohrbach then takes a very big risk to make it 100% German production. A risk that pays off. Das Boot It was one of German cinema’s biggest successes internationally and was nominated for Oscars in six major categories, including Best Director, Best Cinematography (an extraordinary work by renowned cinematographer Joost Wakano) and Best Adapted Screenplay. It’s been 41 years since its release and it still doesn’t have a wrinkle. Like an eternal sign of masterpieces.