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"This time"? Really? Most books and media glamorize and glorify the U-bootwaffe of the Third Riech. Actually, I take that back, Das Boot, is the leading reason why Uboats are romanticized so much. Don't get me wrong, i own the Director's cut, and the original miniseries, its a great epic to watch, but in some respects its also a masterstroke of..... well i'm not quite sure what word is applicable to describe the negative connotation that i infer upon it. The point being its a great movie, but it helps one along in losing historical perspective. Also, i'm pretty sure every WW2 sub nut has seen it at least two or three times over, if not more. (I fall in the "more" category")
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Originally Posted by Ducimus_Rapax Go to original postThey were kinder, gentler Nazis.
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Does it really matter, the movie far differs from the book Das Boot. Lothar-Gunthor Buchheim, a reporter that actually sailed on a U-Boat, wrote about his experiences. In the book, which is non-fiction, they never went through or attempted a passage through the straight of Gibraltar. The read is quite boring...like two entire chapters about the storm they went through alone.
Last summer I caught another version of the movie on cable....about 1/2hr to 45min longer than the directors cut. Something like 5 minutes sailing around inside Viga looking for their supply ship.
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I'm not going to tell anyone what they should watch. I'm just tired of seeing and hearing about Das Boot off and on for the last 7 years. Sometimes i think i must be the only one in the submarine sim community who's stepped outside the box long enough to realize what a tremendous influence that single movie has had in said community, and by extension Ubisoft.
Take a good hard look at SH5. It's a great example of why sometimes giving people exactly what they want isn't the greatest of ideas. Compare and contrast SH5, with Das Boot. There practically identical. Type 7 uboat only? Check. Chief engineer with a sick wife? Check. First watch officer who's a fervent Nazi? Check. The list goes on.
Now there was a time when i strived to achieve the "Das boot experience" in SH3. (Hell i may have even coined the term) Most people probably don't know it, but I was even on the GWX team for little while. I've read Iron Coffins (great NOVEL by the way), Steel Boats and Iron Hearts and a few others. I spent so much time researching Uboats that at one point, i could look at a Uboat number and tell you what type of Uboat it was without having to look it up. That's how much i was into this stuff. Nowadays, i find "The das boot experience" repugnant because the constant strving for it has limited our options, and limited the vision of the community at large. SH4 never became popular because it was not Das Boot. In SH5 they gave us Das boot, and well, ill leave it at that.
Senior Member
When watching war-related movies I tend to take a broader view...I don't see Nazis, or GI's or Japanese. I see people caught up in a situation far beyond their control, and attempting to come out of it in one piece. What they all have in common is suffering we can't begin to imagine, and the sheer madness of the whole business....
And, yes, "Das Boot" is in my collection of war movies as it exemplifies better than most what I see in these movies.
Of course, some people have had their fill of hearing about this movie, but not everyone is as well learned on the subject.
SH4 never became popular..??
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I do see Nazis, and/or fanatical Japanese warmongers. There's a difference between sufferings. Some bring it upon themselves by their own choices, others suffer it because of those choices. Personally, I believe that generalizations seeking parity among victims and offenders is inherently dangerous. They are not one in the same, not by a long shot. Despite enduring similar deprivations, they did not share perspectives on the sanctity of life, liberty and equality among men. To them, not all men are created equal or viewed as equal in value. Those who wish to dominate and subjugate should never, ever, be embraced as equals in any way, shape or form and all attempts should be made to avoid even the remotest possibility of misconstruing that notion. War, as horrible as it is, is unfortunately, sometimes, necessary. If ever there was a war that proved this beyond a shadow of a (self evident) doubt, it was WWII. Those who instigated it and forced it upon the inhabitants of this world are established in the most malevolent evil and in no way, hold commonality with those desiring to live peacefully among all men.Originally Posted by nohunt1 Go to original post
The same evil that perpetrated the Second World War is alive and well in this world today, despite assuming a new face and identity. There is no bargaining with this evil since it's desire is of a singular and irredeemable end. It is born from none other than hatred, anger, disdain and inhumanity. To believe that the removal of this evil, by whatever means becomes necessary, is common with those who initiate/perpetrate these wars of hatred, ill will and destruction, is to invite the Neville Chamberlains of this world to don the horse blinders again, wave another worthless paper of blind self-assurance and deny reality. Sorry, nohunt1, I must respectfully but assertively disagree with that perspective.
