U BOAT Movies...

[Sailor Steve]

Originally Posted by Stealhead

That is the one cheesy part about Das Boot the young pro Nazi officer it would not have been that way in real life.

That's one of the things I like about the 5-hour 'Uncut' version over the others. In the Theatrical Release and in the Director's Cut we get the impression that he is a hardcore Nazi. Where do we get that impression from? Herr Kaleun says so. We never hear him preach Nazism. He never seems to say anything. In the 'Uncut' version I got the distinct impression that he is nothing more than a confused and somewhat stuffy young man who desperately wants to fit in. He left his stepfather's ranch in Mexico and made his way back to Germany to join the war effort. Why? It looks like he thought it was what he was supposed to do, so he did it because he couldn't think of anything else. He joined the party. Why? Because he thought it was what he was supposed to do. He may have felt that people would like him more if he was in The Party. Now he's on a boat with a commander who doesn't like Nazis, and he's extremely uncomfortable about it. He still doesn't fit in. Nobody seems to like him much, and he doesn't really understand why. He keeps his uniform clean and he shaves every day. It seems to me that makes him feel like he's doing the right thing. He never really talks down to anyone, and we never hear him preach Party politics. Maybe that's because he knows the captain won't like it, but maybe it's because he's not really sure of himself or his choices.

I also noticed that when the going gets rough he keeps his cool and is actually a very good first officer. Maybe all this is me reading in something that isn't there, but to me he never really seems like a True Believer where the Party is concerned. I think this was done to contrast people like the rabid first officer in The Sea Chase, who takes it upon himself to single-handedly slaughter an Australian radio station and brings a world of hurt onto his comrades.

And maybe I just feel sorry for the guy because he reminds me of myself when I was that age.