Das Boot | The Descent to Hell, Told in Faces | A Film Analysis

The 1981 German film Das Boot follows the crew of a German U-Boat during WWII at a time when there is already a sense that the Germans are on the losing side of the Battle in the Atlantic. More and more U-Boats are being sunk or captured, and U-96 is just one of the dwindling number of U-boats that sets out to sea again. We watch as they suffer through many things, even conquering seemingly impossible obstacles, and returning to port as changed men. Thematically, Das Boot is really about suffering, portraying an ‘experiment to sound out the limits of a person’s ability to suffer,’ specifically in the form of suffering that was actually experienced by men living and fighting aboard a German U-Boat.