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U-571 (film)
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{{Infobox_Film |
name = U-571 |
image = U-571 movie.jpg |
director =
Jonathan Mostow |
producer =
Dino De LaurentiisMartha De LaurentiisHal Lieberman |
writer =
Jonathan Mostow (Story)
Jonathan MostowSam MontgomeryDavid Ayer (Script)|
starring =
Matthew McConaughey Bill PaxtonHarvey Keitel |
distributor =
StudioCanal|
released =
April 21st, 2000|
music =
Richard Marvin|
runtime = 166 min.|
awards =
Academy Award for Best Sound Effects Editing
BMI Film Music Award
language = English|
budget = $62,000,000 (estimated)|
imdb_id = 0141926|
|}}
U-571 is a 2000
movie directed by
Jonathan Mostow, and starring
Matthew McConaughey,
Bill Paxton,
Harvey Keitel,
Jon Bon Jovi,
Jack Noseworthy,
Will Estes, and
Tom Guiry. In the movie, a
German submarine is boarded in 1942 by disguised
American submariners seeking to capture its
Enigma cipher machine.
Tagline:
Heroes are ordinary men who do extraordinary things in extraordinary times.
Cast
- Matthew McConaughey .... Lt. Andrew Tyler, Executive Officer
- Bill Paxton .... Lt. Cmdr. Mike Dahlgren
- Harvey Keitel .... CPO Henry Klough
- Jon Bon Jovi .... Lt. Pete Emmett, Chief Engineer
- David Keith .... Maj. Matthew Coonan, USMC, Office of Naval Intelligence
- Thomas Kretschmann .... Capt.-Lt. Gunther Wassner
- Jake Weber .... Lt. Hirsch, USNR
- Jack Noseworthy .... Seaman Bill Wentz, Radioman
- Tom Guiry .... Seaman Ted 'Trigger' Fitzgerald, Radioman
- Will Estes .... Seaman Ronald 'Rabbit' Parker, Torpedoman
- Terrence 'T.C.' Carson .... Steward Eddie Carson
- Erik Palladino .... Seaman Anthony Mazzola, Planesman
- Dave Power .... Seaman Charles 'Tank' Clemens, Machinist Mate
- Derk Cheetwood .... Seaman Herb Griggs, Helmsman
- Matthew Settle .... Ens. Keith Larson, Chief Torpedoman
- Rebecca Tilney .... Mrs. Dahlgren
- Carolyna De Laurentiis .... Prudence Dahlgren
- Dina De Laurentiis .... Louise Dahlgren
- Burnell Tucker .... Adm. Duke
- Rob Allyn .... Ensign
- Carsten Voigt .... German Chief Hans
- Gunter Würger .... Lt. Kohn, German Executive Officer
- Oliver Stokowski .... German E-Chief
- Arnd Klawitter .... German Hydrophone Operator
- Kai Maurer .... German Planesman
- Robert Lahoda .... German Engineer
- Peter Stark .... German Lookout
- Erich Redman .... German Bosun
- Sergeant William John Evans .... Marine Sergeant
- Robin Askwith .... British Seaman
- Jasper Wood .... Petty Officer
- Martin Glade .... Gunner Officer
- Oliver Osthus .... Depth Charge Officer
- Corporal John William Falconer .... Other Sergeant
- Corporal Cory Glen Mathews .... Other Sergeant
- Valentina Ardeatini .... Mrs. Peggy Larson
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
- Jennifer Barrett Malinowski .... Joanie - Pete Emmett's Fiancee (uncredited)
- Norman Campbell Rees .... Milatary police seargent (uncredited)
Historical inaccuracies
Enigma and associated documents containing key material were first recovered from a U-boat in May 1941 — before the United States' entry into
World War II — by the British who captured
U-110. The
British also captured material from
U-559 in 1942. The U.S. Navy did seize German Naval Enigma material in June 1944 when it captured
U-505 (the U.S. Navy's first capture of an enemy vessel at sea in 129 years).
The film caused irritation in Britain. The families of
Royal Navy Lieutenant Tony Fasson and
Able Seaman Colin Grazier, who lost their lives while retrieving the Enigma from U559, were particularly upset. Critics also argued that
U-571 failed to portray history correctly because, in total, there were some 15 captures of Naval Enigma material during World War II, of which the Americans and
Canadians each carried out one (
U-505 and
U-774, respectively), while the British performed the rest. While the British captures from submarines and weather trawlers provided critical information for breaking Enigma, by the time of the American and Canadian captures, the Allies were reading Naval Enigma routinely. Moreover, the American capture of
U-505 by a destroyer captain on the eve of D-Day might have jeopardized
Operation Overlord. However, as acknowledged by the film-makers, the story of the film is entirely fictional.
Shortly after the release of the film,
BBC radio interviewed a former British naval officer who had been involved in the recovery of cipher-key tables from a German submarine that was on the point of sinking; he commented that the film was entertaining, though it had nothing to do with historical fact.
The movie has also been criticized for a scene in which the U-boat crewmen machine-gun Allied merchant crewmen who have survived their ship's sinking, killing them in cold blood as they float helplessly in their lifeboat. The implication is that the killing of survivors was typical U-boat behavior. Critics of the
U-571 movie point out that this is an incorrect depiction of typical U-boat crew behavior. In contrast to the depiction of U-boat men in the movie, and to the behavior of German armed forces in other services and fronts, U-boat crewman almost universally followed the accepted rules of war; in a number of incidents, they helped survivors with food, directions and occasionally medical aid. Assistance to survivors only stopped after Admiral
Karl Dönitz issued the "
Laconia order" following a US attack on U-boats transporting injured POWs under a flag of truce (the
Laconia Incident). Out of several thousand sinkings of merchantmen in World War II, there is only one documented case of a U-boat crew deliberately attacking the ship's survivors: that of the
U-852, a Type IXD2 U-boat under Kpt.lt. Heinz-Wilhehm Eck, whose crew attacked survivors of the Greek ship
Peleus.
There was a real German submarine designated
U-571, but that vessel was never involved in events like most of those depicted in the film.
Cut scenes
The movie was originally rated “R� due to a scene where Lt. Pete Emmett (
Jon Bon Jovi) is
decapitated by flying debris. To get a “PG-13�, the shot was redone with Emmett this time knocked overboard by flying debris. This led to many audience members not knowing what happened to his character. A death scene was also filmed for Maj. Matthew Coonan (
David Keith), but the effect did not work well so it was cut from the film
Interview with Jonathan Mostow.
See also
- History of cryptography- World War II cryptography|History of cryptology — World War II cryptology
.
- Submarine film.
- Enigma (2001 film)
- HMS Bulldog (1930)|First naval seizure of EnigmaReferences
- David Kahn, Seizing the Enigma: the Race to Break the German U-Boat Codes, 1939-1943, Boston, Houghton Mifflin, 1991.
- Hugh Sebag-Montefiore, Enigma: the Battle for the Code, Phoenix, 2001.External links
- Official site
-
- Salon interview with Jonathan Mostow
- Independent Movie Review by www.enigmahistory.org
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