No previous film has come in for such strong criticism about its portrayal of
real events on film. Britain's Culture Secretary, Chris Smith, has been
particularly vociferous in his condemnation.
But what he, and many others, seem to have forgotten is that this film was never
meant to be a historical drama, a documentary or anything other than another
American, block-buster movie. What his considered views are on the accuracy of
20 Million Years BC are yet to be revealed.
And it's rather ironic that the man who claims that Britain rightfully owns
the great Elgin Marbles, so blatantly stolen from the Greeks, can condemn anyone
for distorting historical truth.
As a member of the British Government, I'm sure he'll also trot out the line
that, the Millennium Dome has been one of the most successful ventures since
the Brits painted themselves in woad and prostrated themselves before their
Roman conquerors.
So let's forget about any ideas that U-571 is anything other than a
film which chose to take a real life event and change the surrounding story
to use as the basic plot vehicle for its own use, and look at it for what it
is; an adventure yarn on, and beneath, the high seas.
As an adventure yarn it does itself proud.
The basic plot is that an American submarine is sent to attack a stricken
U-Boat, adrift in the Atlantic, to steal a German Enigma machine; the magic
box which the German army, navy and air force used to encrypt the messages
they send amongst themselves.
All goes well, as they out-race a German supply sub to get to the U-Boat, but
things go horribly wrong when they forget to keep an eye out for its obviously
impending arrival.
With their own submarine holed and sunk, the crew take over the German boat
and begin their difficult journey back home.
All submarine oriented movies have one thing in common; the portrayal of the
crew members, trapped in the boat, under extreme conditions, living on a
knife-edge as they negotiate enemy ships and depth charges.
Very few come close to the realism of Das Boot, the definitive life on
a U-Boat tale, but U-571 is not far off. That Göetz Weidner, the
production designer, held the same position on Das Boot helped, as
undoubtedly did assistance from technical advisor, Vice Admiral Patrick
Hannifin, who served on the American S-Boats during the war.
The presentation of life below deck was realistic and gritty. Accuracy to
detail seemed much in evidence although some sacrifices were made to
accommodate the storyline; the German submariners, for example, never, in
reality, wore official uniforms.
The sets were equally impressive. The submarines themselves particularly so,
and the huge water tanks, used for land-based shooting, were used to flawless
effect.
Ignoring the issue of the recovery of the Enigma machine itself, the storyline
held up very well, but was apt to fall into the trap of many American
offerings; sloppiness and unnecessary and contrived plot. Perhaps it makes the
Yanks jump for joy, the rest of the world just shakes its universal head and
smiles knowingly to itself.
Eddie was the token black man in the movie; stereotyping as the cook was not
out of historical context, but his existence, rescue from the sea, and almost
guaranteed survival, looked to be driven more by political correctness than
anything else.
There were no major female characters, only bit-parts during the opening
scenes. Given the subject matter, that's hardly surprising, and we can all be
grateful that realism, and what historical accuracy there was, wasn't
compromised by Submariner Ripley cruising the gangways.
Harvey Keitel, playing Chief Klough, managed to get himself the worse
cue-line in the movie; "The Germans build these boats well", seconds before
the hull gives way, and, in response to an order to dive to 160 metres,
he also got the, let's explain it to the Americans, line, "That's over 500
feet". It's about time the US got to grips with metrification, or sod
'em; let them go home and work it out.
Some other interesting issues cropped up; why when Lieutenant Hirsch was so
worried, and rightly so, about what his crew mates would think of him being
half German, did not one man bat an eyelid when he started to speak the
language fluently.
Why, when they knew that a German rescue sub was on its way, wasn't anyone
monitoring the sonar to detect its appearance ?
And, where exactly did the photograph of the Enigma machine come from ?
Perhaps the most disappointing aspect of the film was its portrayal of the
German crew.
Faced with a lifeboat full of survivors, the U-Boat Captain, in cold blooded
fashion, ordered them to be killed. Whilst it is almost certain that orders not
to take survivors on board did exist, there's no food and no room for such, and
leaving them alive would be a tactical error; it's more than likely that similar
orders existed for submarines from other nations.
Set against the American's selflessness in rescuing a German crew member, the
contrast appeared deliberate, contrived and, politically motivated.
That no one questions the morality of sailing over to a stricken U-Boat,
disguised as Germans, with the whole plan being to kill the crew as soon as
possible, added to the feeling that this was, indeed, a sanitized, and, sadly,
righteous, view of American involvement in wars.
The reference to the surviving German crew being Mary's was poorly
placed, infering that the Germans were somehow cowards who would prefer to
surrender than die fighting, rather than men, just like us, who had no desire to
die for no good reason and were simply there because they had little choice.
Once again the overt, German = Evil, American = Good, theme cannot be
ignored; a failing of most war films and an over simplification of the way the
world of politics and people works.
The only balance being that the American's 'kindness' nearly led to their
downfall as their captive did his best to scupper their plans and boat and a
short discourse, that a Captain has to be willing to give up the life of anyone,
his crew and his friends, in order to achieve the goal; presumably this would
also include shooting enemy survivors, would it not ?
Did Mostow balance the German-American axis ? Perhaps, but I wouldn't expect
many in the audience to have seen his attempts as such.
But, putting aside the demonisation of the German race, and accepting that this
is an American film, with an American agenda, which means it must show its own
people in the best possible light, U-571 was highly enjoyable and an
action film of high calibre.
It was a brave step too, to open with subtitled, German dialogue; something
which an American audience loathes - well done on that score. Anyone who has
seen the ludicrous, dubbed into English, version of Das Boot knows just
how grateful they should be.
As a historical document, U-571 is, on the whole, completely false. As
a tribute to those submariners who risked their lives at sea in rotting, flaky,
rusty tubes, on both sides of the war, it is a worthy effort, even if there is
some over glorification and one-sidedness in this fictional account.
It should be judged on what it delivers, not on what anyone thinks it
should have delivered nor on the posturings of those who can't understand the
simple phrase, "It's not real, it's a screenplay, it's a fantasy, an adventure
story".
It's a bloody good adventure film, but it's a shame it bowed down to American
style political correctness and self-centered bias.
