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U-571
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U-571 revisits the watery territory of Wolfgang Petersen's Das Boot (1981), but aligns its vision of soldiers at war with the all-American conservatism of Spielberg's Saving Private Ryan (1998). At the start, director and co-writer Jonathan Mostow (Breakdown, 1997) seems genuinely interested in presenting both sides of a pivotal moment in World War II (here condensed from several real-life episodes). The Germans possess an encryption system called Enigma which the Allies cannot decipher. It falls to the crew of the American U-571 submarine to grab a copy of the coding machine and stop word of their manouevre reaching German high command. For a brief moment – before the machine guns, grenades and fists swing into action – the American team must pose as German, pushing forth their men Emmett (Jon Bon Jovi) and Wentz (Jack Noseworthy) as spokespersons. But there ends the intriguing, cross-cultural ambiguities of this drama. Soon, the German soldier tied up on U-571 turns out to be as sneaky and treacherous as the prisoner of war who begged for mercy in Saving Private Ryan. For the most part, this is a routine action film. A few brief moments of tension aside, Mostow presents the American crew as an infallible, crack team. Not even the fact that their submarine springs a leak the second it submerges is enough to dampen their collective spirits – after all, Commander Dahlgren (Bill Paxton) assures them: "She's old, but she'll hold!" Harvey Keitel has an underwhelming role as Chief, who offers sage advice to the new man in charge, Lt. Tyler (Matthew McConaughey): "Never say 'I don't know'!" The film is so intent, in fact, on suppressing any doubt about the rightness of this military campaign that it shoves a key, potentially painful moment of the plot off-screen during the gung-ho climax. MORE Mostow: Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines © Adrian Martin April 2000 |
