Das Boot - Die komplette TV-Serie

Six years after Wolfgang Petersen's “Das Boot” became a surprise global hit, this astonishingly immersive TV miniseries was created. Many fans of the material still consider this version to be the most uncompromising, complete, and ultimately best adaptation of Lothar-Günther Buchheim's novel of the same name. Even in the extended series version, which runs for over 5 hours, the crew of the U 96 submarine is exposed to a truly hellish journey of life and death on their combat mission. Lieutenant Commander Lehmann (Jürgen Prochnow), respectfully called “The Old Man” by his men, reporter Werner (Herbert Grönemeyer), and the rest of the crew are mercilessly hunted by enemy destroyers and bombed by aircraft. While the cinema version is highly condensed, the six-part TV version allows for a much more detailed narrative. Numerous scenes, character moments, and dialogues that were shortened or removed entirely in the film are included here. As a result, the series more closely resembles Buchheim's episodic, observational novel structure. The miniseries was not intended as a classic “spin-off,” but rather as an author-specific second version: Petersen used the television format to realize his original vision more comprehensively. In addition to the depth of the characterization, he placed more emphasis on the psychological wear and tear, the exhausting routines on board, and the gradual breakdown of hierarchies and certainties. Even more clearly than in the cinema, the TV miniseries is characterized by a radically disillusioned attitude. Heroic attributions are completely undermined. It is precisely because of its longer running time that the central idea of “Das Boot” unfolds particularly consistently: war consumes time, identity, and humanity. The TV miniseries was particularly highly regarded in later broadcasts – especially by viewers who prefer more intense characterization and calmer dramaturgy. It occupies a special place in German television history as a rare large-format auteur work in which cinema production and television art go hand in hand – long before the miniseries format boomed internationally. France in the middle of World War II. Young war correspondent Werner is about to set sail for the Atlantic on a German submarine. He has no idea of the hardships and dangers that await him and the crew of U96. But the war quickly reveals its ugly face.