Entre les mains de l'ennemi

This movie slipped by in the U.S. theaters, with DVD release only, so I found out about it from a U-Boat movie recruit friend. With William H. Macy, Til Schweiger, and Thomas Kretschmann (the latter now well known for his role in "The Pianist" there is no excuse for no release.

The details are well documented in other reviews. I have seen many such films, in German and English. After watching half in English, I purchased a copy in German (well-dubbed). I tend to find such films more convincing (easier to suspend disbelief), although the down side there is seeing American actors speaking perfect German. Well, perhaps there will come a copy someday with appropriate subtitles.

Of course, the film that really shows U-Boat conditions is the film Das Boot. I do not know the budget of this film, but the cramped quarters, filth, and unseemly conditions were not part of the budget.

However, the decision of the Kaleun (Kapitän-Leutnant) Schweiger to take on American prisoners (against Oberkommando des Kriegsmarines orders), deal with the inevitable conflict--American soldiers and sailors were well-indoctrinated to hate Germans--after the certain death of his daughter to Allied bombing is more than touching.

Kretschmann's performance is especially noteworthy. Although he once wanted an American Hollywood acting career, and has most frequently been cast as a German military man, all of these performances have been quite different, a testimony to some real acting skill. He has it in spades. Til Schweiger is, as I have read, a "matinee idol"--he does not have to act.

To war film afficionados, most highly recommended, to those who wish to see some great German actors, also highly recommended, and finally, to fans of William H. Macy, a guaranteed pleasure. There is enough WW2 period ambiance to keep this film in suspense.

hello everybody, having read several comments on this movie, I feel like doing the same myself. I didn't expect too much out of it when I took it home to watch it. the story to my mind has a very unique idea as a layer, I liked it very much. still I thought it was a bit much on the cliché-side, but still very good. The acting was quite amazing at times, especially macy and kretschmann did a great job. personally I never liked schweiger that much, but he did a great job on this movie too. some minor roles were quite good i thought, such as rene heger's. what i liked most about the movie were the dialogs between macy and kretschmann, especially towards the end, quite touching i thought. all in all, i think its a movie that is worth watching.

This movie is a watchable one. It's not really a memorable one though but when you decide to watch it, it won't bore you.

When the movie began I was kind of worried. The editing was poor and the acting horrible B-movie like and it had a made-for-TV kind of look. But thankfully all those things improved later as the movie progressed.

It's obvious that the budget wasn't very big since they had to use stock footage from movies like "U-571" and even "Down Periscope". They also used stock footage from real WW II Destroyers and other boats which was pretty obvious at times, it was kind of amateur-like and unrealistic the way it was edited into the movie.

The story is pretty solid, despite some awfully weak dialog at times. It was at first kind of weird that the movie focused on both the Americans and Germans in the same way but later in the movie it becomes obvious why. The movie mostly fails to become tense but still its perfect good entertainment to watch all.

Not a must see by any means but when you decide to see it nevertheless, you will be fairly entertained. And hey it has got William H. Macy and Thomas Kretschmann and some other well known actors in small roles in it, which makes this movie absolutely, very well watchable.

7/10

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It has an interesting story executed poorly. I couldn't figure out if this was supposed to be a serious drama or light camp. Acting was average with standouts William H Macy carrying the film as well as the German executive officer. Still it actually moved well for me and I was entertained by it. I have a keen interest in U-boats having traveled the world to see them as well as the US fleet subs. The feats performed in this movie by the submarines underwater is essentially science fiction in pre-1945 submarine warfare. Loads of other technical errors as well in the production, but in a quick and dirty film who cares. It was made on a budget and that's that. So if you want to really see reality, Das Boot still stands alone. I give it 5 starts, for sloppy production, but still recommend it over most of the garbage on Netflix.

The film is based on historic deeds,thus the construction of new U-boats continued at a record -breaking during WWII. In 1942-43 Hitler raised enormously his U-boat strength,the German submarines sank numerous ships,in early 1943 the called ¨Wolf packs¨sank 90 ships in 20 days.Then,suddenly ,between March and June 1943,an exceptional change took place .The Allies began to win the war against Hitler's underwater in the Battle of the Atlantic.By this time the technique of submarines warfare had advanced far beyond that used in the beginning the war.The Allies pitted thousands of boats,seamen,destroyers,cruisers,subs,cannons and billion of dollars against the undersea craft .As early as December 1943 Karl Doeniz ,the architect and designer of U-boat campaign,admitted the grave turn in events.The cost was great on both sides .In the six years of war ,the Germans,by their own statistics,destroyed more than 2000 British,Allied ships in the sea.Hitler had built 1162 subs ,of which 783 were lost.Of the 41000 men recruited into the underwater service ,between 28000 and 32000 lost their lives and 500 were taken prisoners.

The picture narrates as the USS Swordfish underwater commanded by Cmdr Randall(Scott Caan) and the sergeant(William H. Macy)and with the crew(Jeremy Sisto,Sam Huntington among others)is sunk ,then they are captured by a Nazi U-Boat 424 commanded by a captain(Til Schweiger) and officer(Thomas Kretschman). The Americans led by the sergeant try to take over the German sub and to make their way back home confronting against Nazis sailors ,through enemies destroyers they manage to arrive at three hundred miles US coast.The movie contains nail-biting action,drama,suspense in a claustrophobic atmosphere although complemented with some of archive stock footage.

The film provides a realistic detailing of life aboard and a portrait about the crews subjected to stressful and psychological tensions.In fact the sailors had sleep in shifts.For months they were lodged in close quarters because every inch the space was needed for machinery,supplies and torpedoes.The air was heavy with odors from bilges,diesel oil and unwashed bodies.The men faced sudden death from depth charges ,aerial bombing attacks or the sharp bow of a swift destroyer as happen in this film.