I found the first half a little slow... but it set the stage for getting to know the characters...

I never thought the film could be so boring. Perhaps it is because I watch the 208 minutes director's cut version, rather than the original theatrical release version with 150 minutes. For the director's cut version, it is total rubbish. The pace is extremely slow and many scenes are just repetitive. The terror and despair scenes of the soldiers are shown again and again. The director wants the audience to have pity on the Nazi soldiers? No way! They start the war, and they deserve to lose the war.The only merit of the movie is that the ending is beyond expectation and cliché. So the rating for this movie is 2/10.

I saw this film when I was a freshman in college during a weekend that I later dubbed my "depressing movie festival." (The Wall and Apocalypse Now were the other weekend "entries.") Of these films, it was Das Boot that haunted me--when I laid down at night, I saw Jurgen Proctow's pained blue eyes. When I woke in the morning, I felt as if I were escaping through the hatch of the submarine. I could not shake the images, and now some fifteen years later, I still remember how completely meaningless the movie made everything seem, and the nihilistic message stayed with me for a long, long time. How few films are there which affect the viewers on this level. To say this film is "powerful" seems so weak a description.Part of the "power" of the film comes, I think, from a certain restraint in the direction. So often, films which aspire to move the audience quickly fall into melodrama, over-acting, and overblown images. Too much. These often succeed in the immediate response (usually crying) but fail to impact the viewer on anything more than a surface level. Here, it is the small moments which fill the screen. Everywhere, all around is War, but for these men as we witness them, war does not begin with a capital "W". It is reality, not a grand concept. The director lets the story shock and horrify the audience, not by forcing it, but by letting the story just tell itself. Drama, tension and resolution occur naturally in Das Boot, which contributes to the very real impact of the film.Story is a 10, direction is a 10, acting is a 10 and the cinematography is a 10. One of the all-time greatest films.

I saw Das Boot recently as I don't like watching foreign spoken movies, which spoils the viewing, having to read the subtitles. But I had heard many people praise this movie for it's realism without glorification of war. As the movie is based on true events I finally crossed the line.I got hold of the Director's Cut, the restoration copy, which runs for almost 3½ hours. Indeed it is a very dramatic movie and I am pleased to have seen it. But the extra hour made it too long and the events are stretched out, perhaps to give the viewer a personal apprehension and fear of being trapped whenever the boat was in dire straits. Life was constantly hanging by a thread and you experience this feeling too.The acting was superb, but in this longer version the movie only qualifies for a 7. I feel confident that I would rate it an 8 in the shorter version.