U-571 Sinks Competition No-Frills Acting And Technical Realism Make For Explosive Film
To that short list of nail-biting, heart-pounding World War II submarine movies, get ready to add Jonathan Mostow’s “U-571” to the honor roll. This film from producers Dino and Martha De Laurentiis packs the emotional wallop of a deadly accurate depth charge and is filled with as much tension as any two-hour movie can withstand.
Even if the script at times spring leaks — like the ancient S-boat of the title — the vivid, clearly delineated characters and their heroic action win the day. And while no sub movie is likely to challenge Wolfgang Petersen’s 1981 classic “Das Boot” for sheer dramatic power, “U-571” provides a highly realistic portrait not only of sub warfare but of men’s responses to gut-churning pressure.
The accuracy in Mostow’s script (co-written with Sam Montgomery and ex-Navy sonar man David Ayer) as well as in the produc-tion design by William Ladd Skinner and Gotz Weidner (who did “Das Boot”) pays off. One can sense Mostow’s confidence that he’s gotten the basics right: that this is how subs behave and how men react under water.
The film wastes little time before diving into action. The crew of an S-33 — a World War I-vintage sub pressed into service for the battle to control the Atlantic — gets pulled out of a wedding party, ordered to set sail quickly. It seems a crippled German U-boat is adrift in open seas, and on board is the “Enigma” machine, a secret Nazi coding device the Allies need to decipher German naval movements.
The S-33’s mission is to beat a German repair sub to the stranded U-571, where the American sub will pose as a U-boat. A boarding party will overwhelm the crew, seize the coding device and destroy the U-boat so the enemy will never realize the Enigma has fallen into Allied hands.
Officers and crew aboard the S-33 are rapidly introduced. Matthew McConaughey is the sullen second-in-command, having just been passed over for promotion because his commander, Bill Paxton, doesn’t think he’s ready to lead men in battle.
Harvey Keitel, meanwhile, plays the chief, an old sea dog smarter about men and boats than any commander. And among the other crew members is rocker-turned-actor Jon Bon Jovi, who plays an officer helping to ease the transition that occurs when McConaughey must assume control.
And assume control McConaughey must — for reasons that the movie quickly makes clear. The result: a handful of Americans wind up trapped on the damaged enemy vessel in hostile waters.
The traditional sub-movie scenes play out here: the anxious moments as depth charges rock the boat, the leaks and fires that break out everywhere, the creaking hull as the aging U-boat descends well below a safe depth and the challenge to the new commander when he issues a seemingly crazy order. But Mostow’s twist of placing Yanks aboard a German U-boat, a vessel they barely know how to operate, gives “U-571” its narrative kick.
The acting is of the no-frills variety. For the most part, actors must build their characters amid barked orders and no-time-to-lose action.
As with any good sub movie, the sets — one American and the other German — become characters them-selves, pushed beyond endurance yet somehow stubbornly struggling to rise to the surface one more time.
This sidebar appeared with the story: “U-571” Locations: Newport Highway, River Park Square, Spokane Valley, Coeur d’Alene Cinemas Credits: Directed by Jonathan Mostow, starring Matthew McConaughey, Bill Paxton, Harvey Keitel, Jon Bon Jovi, Jake Weber, David Keith, T.C. Carson Running time: 1:56 Rating: PG-13