Jezebel is a very unusual name, standing in the scriptures for a cruel and immoral Queen of Israel, the wife of king Ahab of Israel. She persuaded her husband to start the worship of the Tyrian god Baal-Melkart into Israel, breaking the traditional worship of Yahweh. She was condemned by God, and consequently died a horrible death (and as a result, this name is almost never used as a name for children). The name, after this movie, also stands for a headstrong, arrogant lady who will do only as she pleases; and in the process loses all that she wanted, including the love of her life.
The movie starred Bette Davis, the leading female actress of her generation, at a time when she was struggling with the thought of not being considered for the role of the female lead in the great Civil War, ‘Gone with the Wind’. In the midst of this came the movie, Jezebel, with a strong woman oriented role grounded in tragedy and eventually leading to despair, and which was also set in the Antebellum, the pre Civil War south. The movie was directed by the famous director, William Wyler.

Julie Marsden (Bette Davis) is a strong-willed lass in New Orleans, in love with, and engaged to the banker Preston ‘Pres’ Dillard (Henry Fonda). There is a ball, the most important party event of the year, where unmarried ladies are expected to wear white dresses. However, Julie is mad when Preston is unwilling to go with her for shopping for a dress, and in spite, orders a red dress (against the convention). She refuses to listen to anyone, and goes to the ball with Pres, where she faces shocked looks and disapproval. It is there that she realizes that she has committed a huge social blunder, but by then it is too late. Preston refuses to move away from there, and forces her to do a dance, till a time when they are the sole couple dancing.
Their engagement is broken, confirmed by the slap that Julie delivers to Pres. She refuses to go to him to ask for forgiveness, fully expecting that Pres will return to her. Instead, he goes off to the North, and Julie withdraws into a shell. A year later, Pres does return, but he is there with Dr. Livingstone to help in the preparation (by getting the authorities to take preparation) for avoiding a plague of yellow fever. This time, Julie pleads for forgiveness, but it is too late, Preston is already married, and introduces his Northern wife Amy (Margaret Lindsay).
Julie tries to get her admirer, Buck Cantrell (George Brent), to quarrel with Preston so that they would have to fight a duel, where Buck is an expert. However, things go wrong where Julie’s brother Ted is the one who agrees to the duel, and in the duel, Ted unexpectedly wins, and Buck is shot. And then the final event. The yellow fever epidemic sweeps the town, and Preston is affected; he has to go to a quarantine center (located on an island). Julie convinces Amy that she will go to the island since she knows the local situation, including being able to handle the slaves (she wants to do this as repentance), and Amy agrees.

Oscars:
# Academy Award for Best Actress - Bette Davis
# Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress - Fay Bainter
# Academy Award for Best Picture - Hal B. Wallis and Henry Blanke (nominated)
# Academy Award for Best Cinematography - Ernest Haller (nominated)

Oliver Twist was the second book by Charles Dickens, and was the first one to portray a child in the main role. The book tells of the struggles of this boy, Oliver Twist, having been born in poverty and suffering through large sections of his life. The book also portrays an England of that time as a time of suffering for the poor (something that typically does not come through many historical books of that period, which concentrate on the richer class of society). Charles Dickens is acknowledged as an all-time great writer, with his portrayal of a life more than ordinary. His characters typically go through great suffering, physical and emotional; sometimes they come out trumps, and many times their condition does not really improve that much. Books by Charles Dickens are a must read for most English literature courses, and once you read the book (and get through the emotions, you realize that these are great books).

Many of Charles Dicken’s books were serialized in magazines, with a chapter appearing in each issue of the magazine. Similarly, Oliver Twist was published in monthly installments in a magazine called ‘Bentley’s Miscellany’ (starting in February 1837 and through to April 1839), with a steel etching by George Cruikshank for every installment. The book has 2 very famous phrases - ‘Please, sir, I want some more’, and ‘The Law is a Ass’.
The story is about this poor orphan (his mother died in childbirth and father was absent) called Oliver Twist, who is forced to spend the first 9 years of his life at a ‘baby farm’ run by a lady called Mrs. Mann, done under the auspices of a law called the Poor Law. In reality, he is brought up in a life of few, with bad conditions and inadequate food. Around his 9th birthday, he is removed from the poorhouse and sent to work in a place with inadequate food. There, through a draw of lots, he utters a line that angers the folks running the establishment, ‘Please, sir, I want some more’. They decided to send him off with anybody who is willing to pay 5 pounds; Oliver manages to avoid being sent off with a chimney sweep, instead he is sent off with Mr. Sowerberry (who is an undertaker for the local parish). Mr. Sowerberry treats Oliver well, and this angers his wife who treats Oliver badly. Similarly, another employee Noah Claypole and the maidservant Charlotte also mistreat Oliver.
Eventually, Oliver attacks Noah after one insult too many, and after being punished for this, Oliver runs away, wandering aimlessly for some time before heading towards London. in the journey, he encounters a gentleman by the name of Jack Dawkins, and this encounter is liable to cause him many problems; Jack Dawkins is not called the ‘Artful Dodger’ for no reasons, he lures Oliver to a lair called Saffron Hill that is the headquarters for the criminal called Fagin. He sets out with Dodger and another boy once for ‘making handkerchiefs’ and realizes too late that their mission is to do pick-pocketing. They are chased, and only Oliver gets arrested. He only escapes prison when a witness clears him. He is taken in by an elderly gentleman called Mr. Brownlow who cares for him.
However, this is shortlived as Fagin gets him back with the help of an accomplice called Nancy; and he is forced to take part in a burglary. The burglary goes bad and Oliver gets shot, however, he is again saved when the occupants of the house take him in and care for him. By this time, Nancy wants to save Oliver. Things start turning bad when a new person called Monks (who wants to destroy Oliver) joins Fagin’s gang. Nancy manages to protect him till her secret of trying to protect Oliver is revealed and her lover Sykes kills her, and is himself killed while escaping.
And then the secret of Monks is revealed; he is Oliver’s half-brother and is searching for Oliver in order to destroy him (not searching out of any love, but more to destroy him). Monks makes up with Oliver reluctantly, and moves to America where he eventually dies in prison after reverting to crime. Fagin is also arrested and sentenced to death. And then things turn out better for Oliver, with finding his mother’s half-sister in the form of Rose. He eventually lives happily ever after with Mr. Brownlow.

Leaving Las Vegas was a low budget movie - it was shot in the 16mm film (used mostly for art movies) instead of the standard 35mm films due to cost reasons. However, it was one of the movies that go onto win acclaim, being received very positively by critics, and being a moderate success at the box office, and a much bigger success on the movie rental scene. And the Best Acting Oscar going to Nicholas Cage for his portrayal of the heading-towards-death drunk added more glory to the movie (a movie getting 4 Oscar nominations including for the Best Director adds tremendously to the attraction of the movie on the box office and the post-release rentals). The film was based on a semi-autographical novel by John O-Brien, who would go onto commit suicide just 2 weeks after the movie had started production (the movie was briefly halted, but it was decided that to make the movie would be a sort of memorial to him, so the project continued).

The movie was released in 1995 to a small release, having a wider release in February 1996 (even then it did not get much promotion, and hence it was never as much of a hit at the box office; over time however, the sheer character of the movie, the great performances, all of these made the movie a much bigger hit on the post-release tape and DVD circuit). The movie can be seen as depressing, given that it is a movie about an alcoholic and a hooker (and their story, while beautiful, does not go towards a happy ending); however, their interaction, and their friendship helps make sure that this is a movie worth admiring.
The movie is about this ex-Hollywood agent called Ben Sanderson (Nicholas Cage). He is shown in the movie as an alcoholic who cannot stop drinking. He has lost his entire job, his family, and the only thing he has left is his drinking. He then gets a death wish - he gets rid of all his possessions (dumping some of them in a fire), and decides to head towards Las Vegas where his resolve is to die by drinking. When in Vegas, he meets this prostitute called Sera (Elisabeth Shue). She is run by a pimp, and is the usual worldly-wise, cynical person. However, when Ben books time with her, and does nothing but talk, she is surprised. Over time, a great friendship (akin to love) develops between them, but there is no sex. And they resolve not to try to change each other’s life, with Sera not trying to prevent his alcohol abuse, and Ben not trying to prevent her from leading the life of a hooker.
However, things cannot last like this. Ben is going steadily downhill due to his drinking, and when Sera tries to reform him, he gets furious and brings another hooker to his home; at this Sera throws both of them out. They separate; soon after, she is raped and with her identity as a prostitute exposed, she is thrown out of her home. Then she gets a call that Ben is on his deathbed (having gone too far in his abuse of alcohol); this is the time that they have sex for the first time; he dies soon after.

Oscar Nominations:
Academy Award for Best Actor: (Nicolas Cage) (Won)
# Academy Award for Best Actress: (Elisabeth Shue)
# Academy Award for Directing: (Mike Figgis)
# Academy Award for Writing Adapted Screenplay: (Mike Figgis)

There are 2 types of war movies; the ones that take a slightly more romantic view of war, and then there are the ones that seek to portray war more realistically. They depict war as something that dehumanizes human beings, with no nobility being there. People suffer huge emotional and physical trauma, including both the people who take part in it, and the collateral damage to civilians (people in the territories where the war is taking place and the relatives and friends of the war participants). There are a number of movies that came out during and after the Vietnam War that portray the horrors of the war, such as Apocalypse Now, Platoon, etc. The Deer Hunter is another movie of the same type, that takes 3 people who enter the war as soldiers, suffer the horrors of the war including capture and torture in a VietCong Prisoner of War camp, and then takes their experiences just after the war (not their life, but their experiences still related to Vietnam).

The film was loosely based on a screenplay called “The Man Who Came To Play” (by Louis Garfinkle and Quinn K. Redeker) depicting people who come to Las Vegas to play Russian Roulette (the game is a dangerous game of taking a chance with a bullet in a gun, just not knowing which chamber the bullet is in); this screenplay idea was then combined with an idea about a group of steel workers who go to Vietnam for military service, with their life now revolving around the effects of the war and its aftermath. The movie showed several serious and challenging subjects such as suicide, mental illness, the effects of war, etc.
The movie centers around these 3 Rust belt workers, Michael (Robert De Niro), Steven (John Savage), and Nick (Christopher Walken). In their service in Vietnam, they are captured and help in a POW camp; the guards, to relieve their boredom, force the prisoners to play the game of Russian Roulette. Steven shoots the bullet above his head, and is punished by the guards for not following the rules of the game. Nick and Michael manage to overcome the guards, kill them, and escape along with Steve.
Escape in Vietnam means floating down the river, and that is what the 3 friends do. Only of them (Nick) manages to escape in a rescue helicopter, while Michael jumps in after Steve who has fallen into the river, since Steve’s legs were damaged in the fall. Steve and Michael eventually manage to make it friendly lines, and lose contact with Nick, who eventually finds himself in a Saigon bar playing Russian Roulette all the time.
By the time much later that Steve and Michael reunite, Nick has become totally lost to everybody else, his only place being the Saigon bar. By the time Mike manages to locate him, Nick no longer can remember anything and refuses to go back to the US, and then it happens. He finally shoots himself in the head.
The Deer Hunter won
Best Picture,
Best Director (Michael Cimino),
Best Actor in a Supporting Role (Christopher Walken),
Best Film Editing, and
Best Sound.

Nominated for
Best Actor in a Leading Role (Robert De Niro),
Best Actress in a Supporting Role (Meryl Streep),
Best Cinematography (Vilmos Zsigmond) and
Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen

Most people have seen Clint Eastwood in his movies as a classic western fighter or the famous Dirty Harry character, then you would be surprised to see this movie. The Bridges of Madison County is a sentimental movie, released in 1995 (and produced and directed by Clint Eastwood as well) - essentially being a movie all about emotions, yearning, and sacrifice. It presented a new side of Clint Eastwood, and when combined with the Oscar Nominated performance by Meryl Streep (her 10th Oscar Nomination), became a phenomenal success. The movie cost approximately $22 million dollars to make, and cleaned up more than $180 million worldwide.

Given that the movie is sentimental (some would say mushy), there are wide ranging reactions to the movie - some people can’t stand the movie (and by association, the novel on which it is based), while for others, it is a good movie that shows a wide range of human emotions; especially how life changes for 2 people who meet and click together even in unfavorable circumstances. The movie was based on the (best-selling) novel of the same name by Robert James Waller.
The movie starts out with the children of Francesca (Meryl Streep), looking through their deceased mother’s things when they discover a diary. Lo and behold, it reveals a secret that the family did not know till then; in the summer of 1965, their mother had a secret 4 day affair with a photographer for National Geographic (Robert Kincaid played by Clint Eastwood). Her family has gone to a fair along with their steer and will be there for a few days, leaving her alone at home.
Francesca is an Italian-American lady who came to the US in 1945 along with her American soldier husband; she is reconciled with her status, but there is a yearning that has not yet died down even after 20 years of marriage (she feels stifled in her marriage). So, when a photographer turns up lost at her door and they are not able to easily find the place (wandering around), they quickly fall for each in a very deep relationship. However, when it is time for her family to come back, she has to take a decision - go with her heart or with her responsibilities ?

Great Expectations is a great book, an all-time classic. The book is set in a period from 1812 to the winter of 1840, in the England of that time. The book was actually a series in the ‘All the Year Round’. Charles Dickens has always been considered a writer who can write about a whole gamut of human relations, but there has always been a strong element of pathos, of pain, of despair, and totally shies away from portraying life as rosy. Charles Dickens has also been known to write elements from the story of his life in his novels, weaving his life and experiences through the medium of the story. When he wrote this magnificent novel in the form of a series, he had to ensure that each episode was gripping enough that people would wait for the next part of the series to arrive.

The book is divided into 3 stages of the life of the orphan Pip, his young life when she stays with his sister and her husband. He is comfortable with his life, and has no great expectations from it, until the time he meets a very bitter elderly woman Mrs. Havisham (who was jilted on marriage and becomes very bitter towards men) and her adopted daughter Estella. Mrs. Havisham hates men, and has accordingly inculcated a strong feeling of coldness in Estella, something which is to stay with her in life. Pip continues his life, then becomes an apprentice to Joe (his sister’s husband). However, his life is turned upside down when he is informed that he has been bequeathed a large sum of money by an unknown benefactor. Pip’s expectations are now increasing, and his earlier contact with Mrs. Havisham had made him want to be a gentleman when he grows up, and this wealth will help him a lot.
In the second stage, Pip is now living the fine life in London. He is rich, and adopts the customs of the rich and the cultured, very different from his earlier life. In this life, he pursues Estella, who is now a very beautiful, but very cold person (not caring much about his feelings); he has a rival in the form of Bentley Drummle, whom Pip despises and cannot understand why Estella sees him. Pip has assumed that his provider is in fact Mrs. Havisham, and this also creates a lot of jealousy in her other relatives who are looking forward to her property. However, this Pip has now developed a class attitude, and is ashamed of the lower status of Joe, and is embarrassed when Joe visits. And then he learns that his benefactor is in fact a former convict (who Pip had helped many years back), Abel Magwitch.
In the third stage, this is when things start going downhill. Estella does not acknowledge his advances, and Pip is repulsed by the knowledge that his benefactor was a former convict, and he starts to acknowledge that the allowances will now stop coming. He plans a way to get Magwitch to leave the country, since if he is caught, he will be sentenced to a harsh term. He creates a great plan, but the plan eventually fails and Magwitch is caught and sent to jail, where he dies (but not before Pip visits him and has already warmed to him). In the end, all of Pip’s Great Expectations come to naught, and he learns to live a life without such high expectations.

Frank Capra directed a number of movies, and one of his movies that has been marked as a great movie, one that has been remembered for quite some time is ‘Meet John Doe’, released in 1941. Frank Capra had a certain style to his movies, and a lot of his movies showcased qualities such as the basic element of human goodness, hard work and being good to others (also translated as being unselfish); such a concept is very rarely seen in modern age movies that tend to show a large portion of life as having all human emotions including the negative ones, and fewer roles tend to be fully white, more like everybody having shades of grey. Some of the other famous movies by Frank Capra include ‘It’s a wonderful life’ (1946), ‘It happened one night’ (1934), and many others. The movie did not do well at the Academy Awards, being nominated for Best Original Story.

This movie is slotted as a comedy, but it actually takes a hard and cynical look at both the newspaper business and at politics. The movie principally stars Gary Cooper, Barbara Stanwyck, and Edward Arnold. Barbara is a newspaper columnist, Ann Mitchell, who has just been fired, and angry, prints a fake letter from a ‘John Doe’, who claims that he is unemployed and threatens to commit suicide against the various ills of society. This letter catches the emotional thread of many many citizens, and becomes very popular. As a result, Mitchell is forced to continue the tale (in the process having got her job back), and to make sure that the story has some legs to stand on, they hire a vagabond and former baseball player, John Willoughby (Gary Cooper), to tour the country.
This movement becomes popular, drawing in support from all over, and is financially supported by the newspaper’s publisher, D.B. Norton (Edward Arnold), who recognizes that such a movement could be a potent political weapon and aims to use it for his own fledging political aspirations. John soon discovers that he is being used, but before he can expose this whole scam, he is in turn exposed by Norton who claims that he was unaware of the scam.
Driven by frustration, John plans to commit suicide by jumping off City Hall (as claimed in the original letter); but what happens ? Does he commit out the actual suicide, or do the John Doe clubs manage to get him to back off ?

‘Bonefire of the Vanities’, published in 1987, a biting portrayal of the New York of the 1980’s was a major commercial success. It was not author Tom Wolfe’s first work (he had written journalistic articles and non-fiction books before this work), but the success of this book must have left him spell-bound. The book was eventually made into a motion picture of the same name, with some great credentials (movie ‘Bonefire of the Vanities’, released in 1990, was directed by Brian DePalma, and starred such name as Tom Hanks, Bruce Willis, Morgan Freeman and Melanie Griffith). Part of the reason why the novel struck such a resounding chord could because the characters could be been as representing many of the character flaws of important public figures.

The characters themselves represent the worst of the sins of greed, adultery, ambition, the preoccupation with status and wealth, the arrogance of the wealthy and the insurrection type violence of the deprived, the way in which you can actually depend on no one, and the special talents of wannabe and existing politicians. Imagine what happens when a highly arrogant and wealthy banker gets hit by about everything that he can be hit with and becomes the target for people wanting to use him to advance their own career. In addition, New York city seems like a perfect spot for such a novel to be set - it is probably the most melting point type of city in the world (with unprecedented riches and the most poor and deprived).
The book is about the powerful and WASP banker Sherman McCoy, arrogant in his status and wealth (he is atop the banking circles of New York). He is already distant from his wife, and is in the car with his mistress, Maria Ruskin - this is when his troubles start. He accidentally enters the Bronx, and in a confrontation with some muggers, his mistress takes over the wheel and hits one of them, young Henry Lamb.
This accident becomes the Saviour for a number of people, all of whom will use this incident and the powerful symbol of a white powerful man hitting a poor and powerless young black man. So, Peter Fallow, a drunk washed out reporter, gets a chance to take on this assignment, and uses this to powerful advantage, writing a series of articles based on this incident, and against McCoy when it becomes clear that it was his car that was involved. McCoy is also ditched by his mistress who soon makes it clear that she was not involved in the accident.
What makes matter worse is the involvement of a local religious leader with political aspirations, Reverend Bacon (seemingly styled on the real life Rev Al Sharpton), who wants to utilize this accident to further his career as the one who really cares for the African-American community. And to increase the forces against McCoy, he is also targeted by the district attorney, Abe Weiss, who is up for re-election and sees this trial as a way to consolidate votes behind him (and will do anything to get a conviction). With all these factors against him, McCoy is in for it, and is soon up for trial. What happens next ?

Amadeus is the middle name of one of the greatest composer of all time, the Austrian composer, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart who lived in Vienna during the 18th century. And thus it is pretty natural that a movie on the life of this great composer (and another composer of the same age, Antonio Salieri) should have the name Amadeus in it. The movie, released in 1984 was a drama film about these 2 men, and caught the attention of critics to such a great extent that it cleaned up on the awards, winning 8 Oscars, and a clutch of BAFTA and Golden Globe awards. The movie was also a commercial hit (although on a smaller scale) since it made around $51 million on a budget of $18 million. Inspite of some creative licenses with the truth (the movie assumes that the murder of Mozart is due to a devious plan by Salieri, when this was not a proven fact).

The movie also served to make a lot more people aware of the life history of Mozart, and his amazing musical skills. The depiction of his talent was pretty good, wrapped in a story that touches all the human emotions of skill, envy, jealousy and anger, distress, depression, hatred and downfall. All of these were exhibited in the inter-twined life history of Salieri and Mozart, down to the downfall of both of them.
The story is all set in flashback, when a priest visiting Salieri in a mental health institution visits him, trying to get a confession from Salieri about having committed the murder of Mozart. Salieri is initially uninterested, but then opens up and discloses the full story, including his role in the downfall of Mozart. Salieri had a troubled start to his musical career, since his father was not interested in letting his son study music, but then his death opened the door to a musical career. Salieri was not an exceptional musician, and was happy being the court composer to the Austrian Emperor Joseph II, believing his talent to be God’s gift. And then Mozart burst onto the screen.
Mozart was funny, he was brash, he was lewd, and he was a genius. He started out with taking a work that Salieri had spent time making, and modified that into a new musical work (conversion of “March of Welcome” to “Non più andrai” march from Mozart’s opera ‘The Marriage of Figaro’). Salieri is sinking into depression, believing that actually god is laughing at him for his mediocre music. In the meantime, Mozart goes through a whole gamut of emotions; feeling happy at his success and with his wife Constanze and his son Wolfgang, and then getting shaken by court rivalry, depression over his father Leopold’s death. He starts to fall down as his family expenses increase and the income starts to fall.
And then the ultimate plan. Salieri decides to deceive Mozart, so he disguises himself to be like Leopold (Mozart’s dead father), and gives Mozart a down payment to write a requiem mass (also known as a funeral mass). Mozart starts down to write his best piece of work, not aware that the plan was for Mozart to be killed in the end, and Salieri would then appropriate the Mass and deliver it (in a delicious irony), at Mozart’s funeral. Mozart drives himself to madness while writing this work, and his wife leaves him along with their son. His condition continues to decline, and he collapses during a performance. Salieri takes him home, and continues to make Mozart work during his illness.
Mozart’s fie returns the next morning, and is shocked to see his condition. Salieri has by now abandoned his plan, and he credits Mozart with work on the composition, and Constanze locks the manuscript away. However, all this is in vain, since Mozart dies, and the composition is left incomplete. Mozart is taken away and buried in a pauper’s grave (although his body is recovered later and buried more appropriately). The work remains incomplete, and Salieri is driven to the mental asylum with the thought that God would kill Mozart rather than let Salieri share the glory of the beautiful composition.

The music from the movie:

(all composed by Mozart except as noted)

* Disc One

1. Symphony No. 25 in G minor, K 183, 1st movement
2. Stabat Mater: Quando Corpus Morietur and Amen (Pergolesi - performed by the Choristers of Westminster Abbey, directed by Simon Preston)
3. Early 18th Century Gypsy Music: Bubak and Hungaricus
4. Serenade for Winds, K. 361, 3rd movement
5. The Abduction from the Seraglio, Turkish Finale
6. Symphony No. 29 in A, K 201, 1st movement
7. Concerto for Two Pianos, K. 365, 3rd movement
8. Mass in C minor, K. 427, Kyrie (Mozart)
9. Symphonie Concertante, K. 364, 1st movement

* Disc Two

1. Piano Concerto in E flat, K. 482, 3rd movement
2. The Marriage of Figaro, Act III, Ecco la Marcia
3. The Marriage of Figaro, Act IV, Ah Tutti Contenti
4. Don Giovanni, Act II, Commendatore scene
5. Zaide aria, Ruhe Sanft
6. Requiem, K. 626, Introitus (orchestra introduction)
7. Requiem: Dies Irae
8. Requiem: Rex Tremendae Majestatis
9. Requiem:Confutatis
10. Requiem: Lacrimosa
11. Piano Concerto in D minor, K. 466, 2nd movement

Movie awards at the Oscars: Best Picture, Best Actor (F. Murray Abraham as Antonio Salieri), Best Director (Forman), Costume Design (Theodor Pistek), Adapted Screenplay (Shaffer), Art Direction, Best Makeup, and Best Sound

Das Boot is a movie made on a novel of the same name, written by Lothar-Günther Buchheim. The movie, released in 1981, is supposed to be an authentically correct reproduction of the novel, but even then the author found faults in the portrayal of the characters, finding a great deal of over-acting; he in fact found the treatment by the director (Wolfgang Petersen) to have been over-done resulting in the movie being reduced to a cliche. However, this was not an opinion shared by others, and the movie is widely acclaimed to be one of the best German movies ever made (it was certainly one of the most expensive ones made, costing around 32 million DM). In addition, the song ‘Das Boot’ became an international hit.
Just as an aside, this blog is about English language films, and yet this movie takes a German movie. Well, this movie is an incredibly well recognized movie, and has won tremendous acclaim. The movie was released in the United States in 1982, and was nominated for 6 Academy awards (Cinematography, Directing, Film Editing, Sound, Sound Effects Editing, and Writing), however, this was also the year of Gandhi and ET, and they swept most of the awards. Das Boot did not win any of the awards; no matter, most people who see the movie can’t fail to be impressed by this anti-war movie.

This is an anti-war movie, a bit less strongly than the novel, but anti-war none the less. And it does this by depicting the reality of war from the eyes of the soldiers taking part in the war, by de-glamorising the romance of war, and showing the reality (something similar to how ‘All Quiet on the Western Front’ was another great anti-war movie from another war). The movie features a single submarine U-96 (also called a U-boat). The movie is based on a real life story, that of the crew of a U-boat during the second world war commanded by Heinrich Lehmann-Willenbrock (one of the aces of the German side).
The movie is shown from the perspective of the Lt. Werner (Herbert Grönemeyer), the assigned war correspondent on the U-96. The mission of most of the German U-boats in the second World War was to attack the supply convoys landing supplies to the Allied lines, and this was also hazardous since they were hunted and attacked by both naval aircraft and destroyers. Now a submarine is a cramped quarter, with little facilities for recreation, fresh air, and even simple things such as taking a bath. In such an environment, especially when contact with the enemy may not happen for long or when severe storm can cause the submarine to be tossed around, morale can suffer greatly. In this case, these are dedicated and enthusiastic naval personnel, but not Nazi supporters except for the first weapons officer.
These men go through a series of adventures, but the most common feeling is that of the relentless feeling of being crammed together in a small tube with 40 men (and the director makes the audience share the same feeling, with most of the movie being shot to appear as if inside a submarine). Eventually they are directed to a convoy, but don’t get a clear shot, instead they are attacked by depth charges. And then they land into a massive 23 day long storm that saps their energy and enthusiasm. Then they are spotted again, and have to deep dive, causing a mental breakdown in one of the men, and the submarine almost implodes. Then they attack a tanker, but when the surviving British merchant sailors swim towards them, they are forced to back away due to orders and not take any prisoners.
And they are diverted to the Straits of Gibraltar, a very dangerous passage for a submarine since there is a very good chance of detection and attack. Before going there, they get supplies from a German ship in Spain, whose officers have not seen war and are gung-ho about the war. Inspite of their best efforts when passing through the Straits, they are detected and attacked; and soon the boat starts sinking beyond the maximum safe level of 200 meters, and bolts start going off under the pressure; the crew can hear the hull groaning, a really bad sign for the crew. Somehow, with some luck and maximum conservation of oxygen, they are able to make it up again.
They return to their home base of La Rochelle on Christmas Eve, a group of tattered and weary men, less gung-ho about the war than when they had left. And soon British aircraft start bombing the place, killing some members of the crew and finally sinking the U-96.