Other mistake: When attacking the convoy, the crew rushes forward during the crash dive. Just after a crew member jumps through the hatch after the bow crew compartment, you see someone standing still a second before getting pushed in the view of the camera. (01:31:15)
Das Boot (1981)
1 review
Directed by: Wolfgang Petersen
Starring: Jurgen Prochnow, Herbert Gronemeyer, Hubertus Bengsch, Klaus Wennemann
Your rating
Average rating
(13 votes)
Enjoyed the movie but was completely blown away by the ending. The ending made no sense to me and left me non-plus. I was left with entirely no idea what the ending was about and took away all the enjoyment and suspense I had during the whole movie. What a bummer of an ending. JF.
More mistakes in Das Boot
Captain: April fool. Practice makes perfect.
Trivia: The movie is based on actual events and some of the characters have existed in real life. One of them, Pilgrim, took his own life after the book on which the movie is based was released.
Question: I know practically nothing about submarines, so this seemed a bit strange to me. When there's that huge storm, why do they keep staying at the surface, only going down for an hour at a time?
Answer: Because that's what the U-boat was designed to do. Unlike modern nuclear boats, they didn't have the capacity to stay submerged for long periods - basically just as long as the air lasted; there wasn't atmosphere control equipment. They would 'snorkel' near the surface, recharge the batteries with the diesel engines, and then dive for a few hours at most before having to come back up and repeat the process.
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Answer: U-boats also travelled much faster on the surface...about 18 knots, vs only 8 knots or so beneath the surface.