Das Boot (episodes 3 & 4)
Das Boot is for me the most captivating series on TV and after 4 episodes I’m totally hooked.
There are three locations each with their own story line and a different language.
The first is the U-boat and this is truest to the 1981 film. A U-boat skipper has broken ranks and is about to defect. He is in cahoots with the wireless operator Strasser, the sister of Simone who got killed off in Episode 2.
Their U-boat is being pursued by a nutter called Wrangel more than a shade like Captain Ahab. The compacted, claustrophobic atmosphere is something many must relate to in lockdown though it’s much worse with depth charges.
The second location is La Rochelle.
Here the Gestapo office Forster is intent on running down in and small Jewish family in flight.
He finds his Vichy colleague ineffective so he recruits a local thug.
Third is in New York.
The son of an armaments manufacturer Sam is working with a U-boat survivor on developing a radar.
Both are in love with the same night club singer in Harlem. This is the weakest plot and one suspects is there for the American market.
For one who grew up with the radio thrillers of Paul Temple by Francis Durbridge where you waited for the next episode with baited breath I prefer not to binge but watch the episode every Tuesday.
The second (from 10-11 pm) I record which has the advantage of fast-forwarding the adverts.
I have found Netflix exists for a younger audience and I have grown to admire German TV drama like Deutschland and this.
It’s interesting how the war is perceived by modern day Germany The novelist Philip Kerr developed the idea of a good German in Bernie Gunther and in Das Boot the nasties are the SS.
The German lover of the night club singer protests that not all Germans are Nazis. She replied that, as they don’t do anything to stop them, that makes no difference. You have to admit she has a point.
