6. Das Boot
Theatrical - 149 minutesExtended - 293 minutes The theatrical Das Boot (149 mins) always felt truncated, like the wartime hardships of a creaking U-Boat and its battle-weary crew had set its sights on the action at the forfeit of...more. The extended version - pick either the Director's Cut (216 mins) or the miniseries (293 mins), though the miniseries is recommended - offers that bit extra, immersing you in the lives of the supporting characters and giving an even more extreme impression of life undersea. In the uncut, 293-minuter, the crew are sharply characterised into defined individuals, neither glorified nor vilified, but presented in the matter-of-fact way that German cinema does so well. The men are depicted as harsh as their cold steel environment, and it's there that constantly seaborne director Wolfgang Petersen likes to spend the extended running time. Or, rather, he lingers. Life aboard a sub has never been captured with such grease-soaked terror as in Das Boot, and Petersen's camera explores every corner and crevasse until you as a viewer understand the vessel like it's your own. So the word 'claustrophobic' was the right label for the 149-minute cut, but an extra 2+ hours inside the rickety bucket ratchets the tension up to an unbearable level. If the cinematic cut is an action thriller, the 293-minute edition is an intense ensemble drama with no intention of glamorising warfare, as much about social dynamics as it is about the minutiae of sub-aquatic combat.