Director:? Wolfgang Petersen
Screenplay:? Wolfgang Petersen? /?Lothar?G.?Buchheim
Starring:? Jürgen Prosnoe? /? Herbert Grenemaeu? /?Klaus?Wennemann?/?Jan?Fedder?/? Ralf Rickert? /?Günter?Lamprecht
Genre:? Action? /? Drama /? History /? War
Production country/region:? Original West Germany
Language:? French /? German /? English
Length:?149?minutes? /?209?minutes (director's cut)? /?293?minutes(uncut?version)
Release Date:?1981-09-17
AKA:? Submarine? /? Submarine Storm? /? Special Missions /? Special Missions? /? Emergency dive? /U-boat 96 /? From the bottom of the sea? /? The Boat /?The?Boat
The German film "From the Bottom of the Sea" is the most classic submarine movie, more realistic than all the current submarine movies, the film is more than 190 minutes long, informative, U-boat interior shots, fully demonstrated the power of the "Sea Wolf". This submarine warfare thriller reflecting World War II was nominated for six Oscars in '82, and Wolfgang Petersen became the first person ever nominated for Best Director for a German-language film. The film captivated audiences around the world and set an almost insurmountable example for the war genre.
"From the Bottom of the Sea" Plot:
The submarine, called U96, was launched at the end of World War II and set sail on a mission to blockade British freighters in the shipping lanes. The movie opens with the submarine crew in the club carnival, the director of the indoor drama scheduling is one of the world's leading masters, not to mention the submarine to create the pinnacle of the effect, but only in the club group of non-commissioned officers in the frenzy of the scene, the audio-visual effects caused by the effect of the top blockbusters is the effect of the present. The night before the submarine's mission, all the crew members were oblivious to the party, which is a right given to them by the war, but no one knows whether there is still a possibility of survival in the next second.
The scene at the club is a classic: the swine brothers who are drinking and molesting the dancers, and the captain who sits at the bar with a bland look on his face. The voyage kicks off in a frenzy. Before boarding the submarine, the captain introduces the journalists who have come to report on the ship, and the baby soldiers, who are scowling in front of the journalists, are still in the mood for the club dancers. If they could just get one more, they would be as good as the one in Apocalypse Now, as Branco Marrondo muttered. Marrondo muttered 'horror' and could find no more description to express themselves.
The submarine's only means of receiving information about the enemy is through the simple means of the naked eye, periscopes and listening to the propellers. Listening to the sound of the destroyer's propellers hitting the water in the endless darkness of the cabin magnified the fear. When the destroyer stopped overhead, the rumbling sound that penetrated the heart and lungs was like an evil spirit's urge to kill. Desperation. Underwater, there was almost nowhere to run except for the protection of this 'metal shell'. Every time the submarine dives beyond the psychological bottom line of the crew to avoid the depth charges, it dives again and again. The sound of the shell creaking due to the water pressure was like a sharp knife hitting the nerves of the generals that were ready to collapse at any time. The submarines yelled or muttered "God help me" and waited in the darkness for each death to come. But they knew that God would never be in this submarine, and the tears and cheers that escaped death each time were crying out for the next death crisis to come. Under the water, they would have nothing but this metal shell. And this shell is the life of all. If you live, you live together, if you die, you die together. The only sensation that can receive information from outside is the pair of ears that involve the nerves of the whole body. When the enemy's destroyer was passing overhead, I could only hold my hands in front of my chest, close my eyes tightly, and listen to the sound of the propellers hitting the water and the sound of depth charges exploding from far away to near outside the submarine in the darkness. The parents gave birth to a pair of ears, at this time, I use it to feel the face of death.
At the beginning of the voyage, the first dive exercise set the first psychological bottom line for the submarine members. The captain of the submarine dive to 170 meters underwater, sweating with cold all want to speak out to stop the captain of this fearful maneuver. This depth was the captain's psychological limit, and he looked at his men, who were praying with their heads bowed, and smiled as he raised the submarine back to the surface. But he didn't realize that he would have to break the bottom line of the submarine's submersible depth over and over again, to the point that he completely broke the bottom line when he passed through the Strait of Gibraltar. The movie does not only depict this process by releasing and deepening the fear of the crew and the audience by breaking the psychological bottom line again and again. After almost a month's voyage, the morale of the U96 submarine crew, which had done nothing but evade the destroyers, was slowly declining, drifting aimlessly in the sea. One day they saw the submarine in front of them, and the captain of the other side on the observation deck was the same old Thomson who had partied with them at the club the day before the voyage, and the old captain, whose hair was gray and who was supposed to be in retirement, was standing on the submarine across the storm waving his hand wildly to the other side. 'Hey, Thomson, Thomson!' They met in the middle of the ocean and waved to each other. It was a moment of mixed feelings, like seeing someone close to you in a remote place and looking past him.
This movie is so perfect that it can be said that the director's understanding of 'indoor theater' is beyond ordinary people. Especially in the submarine 'visible' small space with 'hearing' to express the infinite space. The extraordinary effect achieved in the small space maximized the scope of 'audiovisual'. In the interview, the director said that he just changed the camera size to fit the shooting space. What brings the movie to its peak is not the visual space in the images, but the sounds that are heard coming from outside the submarine. The sonar of the destroyer detecting the submarine's position, the sound of the destroyer's propellers hitting the water, the depth charges exploding overhead, the sound of the hull being pressurized by the water. Every sound makes you feel like you are inside the dark and humid submarine, while outside is the infinite empty ocean floor. The technique of expressing the infinity of another space in a small space and making people feel immersed in it is indeed a milestone in audio-visual presentation. The director's "Air Force One", which was made after his entry into Hollywood, followed suit, but failed to achieve such a realistic and immersive feeling. Strike from the Bottom of the Sea is enough to immortalize the director.
When U96 was sunk by Allied planes as she pulled into the dock for her triumphant return, wasn't that the best thing that could have happened to U96? I prefer to think of the submarine as a living, breathing object, an intelligence wrapped in a metal shell. The movie is about its journey from life to death.
The U.S. title "Red Storm", this film is written in the U.S. strategic nuclear submarine in the state of war story, more realistic, but with a certain commercial flavor. And not in the submarine inside the real shot, but ride the scene to do a better...?
PS: A few digs at a few amateur submarine movies.?
"U-571" is a very trashy commercial movie that dares to make a U-boat movie without even getting the basic shape of the U-boat straight. What's even more comical is having torpedoes graze the submarine's shell and not explode. It's like the torpedo is a landmine. The depth charges are detonated right next to the submarine, but they can't blow up the submarine, and the director doesn't have the slightest bit of common sense in physics. 5-6 people will drive the U-boat away, and still be able to fight the war, as if the U-boat automation degree is higher than that of the highest level submarines nowadays. I've watched "Strike from the Bottom of the Sea" and then watched "U-571" and thought it was a piece of crap.
"K-19 Widowmaker"? A bad movie made by Harrison Deputy Special, totally standing on the angle of sarcastic satire K-19 to make the K-19 titanium nuclear submarine? as a K-19 titanium nuclear submarine? an old WWII submarine with a knife-shaped bow. From a military enthusiast's point of view, this movie is a commercial trash movie made by an amateur. It doesn't even get the shape of the K19 right, and it's very much like a political propaganda film.?
The Hunt for Red October? The whole story is very good, and the movie features a Soviet Typhoon class, a US Falling Chicken class? and the Soviet K-1 class, but they were all computerized (the underwater navigation part). The scenery building is better, but it makes the Typhoon class look too useless and the US Larch class look too amazing. The whole confrontation between the submarines was also a bit plausible. Barely acceptable though...?
Some of the other movies, you can watch them yourself if you're interested, but they're generally pretty crap too.