I'm sorry for my stupid question but does the captain dies at the end or is he just emotionally drained after seeing his boat sunk ?
I'm usually full of certitudes about deaths in movies but, here, I'm really not sure :/
He dies.
shareIf you read the wikipedia page for this movie, you'll see that wolfgang petersen confirmed that he DIDN't die.. The captain of the real U-96 at that time didn't die either (the book which the film is based on states this as well)
shareI know the real story of the man and I've also read the book. You are also right about Wolfgang Petersens statement. However, in the audio commentary of Das Boot Petersen states that he intended to create the impression for the viewer that the captain dies, because it is the better ending and that is how the movie should be seen.
shareIt is over 30 years since I read the novel, but IIRC, the ending was a bit ambigious there, too.
shareI think that was too much of a Hollywood-style ending to an otherwise very realistic-looking movie. If the captain didn't die in real life, he shouldn't have in the film either. In fact, the whole air raid bit at the end - especially the people who died in it - was all much too incompatible with everything that went before. And after reading the Wikipedia entry, now I'm wondering how much of the movie was even based on reality, and how much wasn't.
Still, a brilliant movie all in all, despite its length.
The ending does make every one believe, that the captain dies. One of the reasons for that, is because you also see blood coming out of his mouth, who could indicate, that he had severe internal bleeding.
shareThe wikipedia summary says he was shot a few times so reports are mixed. Seems a bit over dramatic to have him die that way. I only saw the mouth bleeding which doesn't mean death.
shareSo what if the real captain of U-96, Heinrich Willenbrock, survived the war? The nameless captain played by Jurgen Prochnow is a fictional character. He can die however the writers/director wants. In fact, I don't know why he's listed as Willenbrock here on IMDb.
How do you likie that piece of satire?
I got the feeling he died after he saw it go down.
His last bit of strength was to emotionally watch it sink, and he died as his boat did.
Loved all of the film, but I felt the ending was rushed and very quick compared to the rest of the film. I'm not sure if that was the point. But I kind of expected the main guy who survived to get the letters off Ullmann and then find his girlfriend and give them to her. An emotional final part. Because as it had scenes showing him writing them and talking about them and his girlfriend, to not have a conclusion to those letters felt a little disappointing.
That's my only criticism of the film