U-571: A Dive into American Patriotism and Cinematic Tension

What initially caught my attention about this film was its very existence within American cinema. This is the cinema we often label as promoting vulgarity – in contrast to our own, which we deem spiritual. And yet, here’s an overseas production, devoid of women, eroticism, and mafia themes, focusing instead on the heroes of World War II. This isn’t entirely new territory, of course, recalling past successes like “Saving Private Ryan” and “The Thin Red Line.”

While our own filmmakers tirelessly churn out “Russian Nikitas” and “Russian Bronsons,” flooding the screen with an average of ten killers per capita, the Americans are delving into naval archives, restoring 1940s submarines, interviewing veterans, and immortalizing their feats on the big screen. And it’s becoming a box office hit. Patriotism, it turns out, is more commercially viable than crime.

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I share Nikita Mikhalkov’s dream of wresting the banner of patriotic cinema from the Americans. But while we dream, America acts. And audiences flock to see stories not about the “lifeline” that saved besieged Leningrad, nor about the selfless Chernobyl responders betrayed by their own country, nor about our submariners repeatedly abandoned to their fate by the authorities, but about American submariners, whose heroism has been immortalized in a film called “U-571.” This film dominated 2,580 American screens in its opening weekend, grossing $19.553 million in three days. So, let’s temporarily shelve the talk of spirituality – it’s no longer our strong suit.

The Power of Immersion

“U-571” proves that even seemingly exhausted themes can be revitalized through new cinematic technology, offering viewers the chance to experience events firsthand. When the cinema hall plunges into the abyss alongside the submarine, ears popping, bulkheads groaning, and the thin steel layer separating us from the depths creaking ominously, we experience a genuine bout of claustrophobia. This is the reality of life for submariners. Audiences are drawn to the theaters as if to an amusement park, but they leave in hushed silence.

Beyond Spectacle: Human Limits in Extreme Conditions

Another notable aspect of the film is its avoidance of Spielbergian patriotic clichés – kneeling veterans at graves and waving striped flags. Director Jonathan Mostow (“Breakdown”) has crafted a film about the extraordinary capabilities of humans in extreme conditions – the conditions of war. Historically, a quarter of all Allied ships sunk by the Germans were lost in the Atlantic. Hitler had established a naval blockade around the United States, hindering the movement of troops to Europe. Nazi submarines lurked everywhere, communicating via a code known as “Enigma.” The code was unbreakable, making the submarines mysterious and invulnerable. Numerous attempts were made to capture the code, and one such attempt forms the plot of the film.

The Craft of Tension

Regardless of our lofty ideals, cinema is a craft whose purpose is to captivate the audience. It strives to extract maximum tension from the material, and all submarine films (Petersen’s “Das Boot,” McTiernan’s “The Hunt for Red October”) employ a similar toolkit: claustrophobia, dangerous dives, and cat-and-mouse games with enemy warships. Naturally, the vessels must narrowly avoid collision at the last moment, eliciting nervous laughter from the audience. Critics may scoff, but try making a film without these elements.

With a limited set of tools at his disposal, the director follows in the footsteps of the opening battle sequence of “Saving Private Ryan” and the entirety of “The Thin Red Line”: he focuses on the hell of battle and the psychological state of individuals on the edge. We might call it a moment of heroism. But Matrosov’s sacrifice is a fleeting instant. The dilemma between duty and life is the dilemma of the entire war, and it is far more terrifying. Therefore, the moment is stretched and endless, the actors in the film are unrecognizable, even Jon Bon Jovi, even the handsome Matthew McConaughey from “Edtv.” The psychological tension is stronger than the situational tension – a rare occurrence in cinema. The extremity of human states is more important than political struggles; we sympathize equally with the Americans and the Germans – all are people sent to die. Real fear and the energy to overcome it (what we call heroism) drown out the thrill of a computer-generated shooting game. Cinema triumphs over the amusement park ride.

Moreover, historically, the “Enigma” code was indeed stolen at the cost of a similar, extraordinary effort. Though not by Americans, but by the British.

For us today, any mention of the word “submarine” resonates with pain. This new American film helps to visualize the scale of the daily heroism undertaken by our own men. As events have shown, even in peacetime.