Simviation Forums

While I personally thought it seemed to be quite correct, what do y'all think?  The "Making Of" segments really confirmed my thoughts.

The only part that could be argued as not-quite-so-accurate is the radiation sickness the sailors suffered.  Please note I don't really know this, I just picked it up from the segment on how the make up was done.  It (the segment) said that due to the actual limits of the make up, the true swelling and such one suffers from radiation sickness could not be modelled.  Even if it could, it could've been too strong for some viewers or even worse, some could've thought that they were over-doing it.

I haven't seen it yet but it just came out on PPV/HBO.  Sounds interesting though.

Personally I thought the movie was dire, and pretty amazingly Hollywood innacurate. I was v.disappointed by it
A good one (you might be able to get it on BBC America) is Hostile Waters, which was about the K219 incident just before the Reagan/Gorbachov summit in Iceland. That was v.accurate as it was based on a book written by a journalist who managed to interview nearly all of the survivors.

Ozzy

Thanks Ozzy, I'll check out my local Blockbuster, with luck.

Shows how much I know about subs!

I wonder though, what was inaccurate about it?

Yes, it was a bit over "Hollwooded" again. The Russian sailors who escaped the real life incident were not very impressed with the move version either.
What you have to remember is that this is a movie and so needs to be entertaining and get "bums on seats" so you get Harrison Ford and a story based "loosly" on the truth.
Reminds me of that truly aweful U579(?) movie where they steal the enigma. Total nonsense.

Reminds me of that truly aweful U579(?) movie where they steal the enigma. Total nonsense.

But I thought that was a documentry!

I think U579 is based on a slightly true story. An event that took place in 1944 I believe. So only three years after we got our mits on one...

I think U579 is based on a slightly true story. An event that took place in 1944 I believe. So only three years after we got our mits on one...

Sounds about right

From what I read about it, the film U-571 is based on several different events that took place at various times during WWII. The actual submarine from which the Enigma machine & code books was recovered by the Royal Navy was U-110. This happened in May 1941. I know that the people at Bletchley Park aren't too happy about history being rewritten. Although this is fiction many people will believe the story is true. Even Tony Blair commented on it in Parliament. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/781858.stm

They even got the number wrong. There was a U-boat numbered U-571 but that was not involved. U-570 surrendered to a RAF Coastal Command Hudson in August 1941. I believe this is the only time a naval craft ever surrendered to an aircraft.

The U-boat that was captured was U-570 and not U-571. In fact U-571 served with distinction in the German navy until 1944 -- a remarkable achievement for a 500 series Type VIIC U-boat -- and therefore the movie is a gross insult to its surviving crewmen and their families.

It is unfortunate that Universal had to pick a long-lived U-boat which had many changes of crew. There is little doubt that those still alive have a strong case for damages in the US courts. August 1941, the time of the capture of U-570, was before the entry of USA into the war. So was the capture of U-110 for that matter

http://www.jamesfollett.dswilliams.co.uk/u571%20lies%20damm%20lies.htm

There are 3 good submarine movies:
Das Boot (6 hour TV version)
Hunt for Red October
Crimson Tide

The rest... is yours to decide

There are 3 good submarine movies:
Hunt for Red October

that was a fantastic movie!

that was a fantastic movie!

But not as good as the book.

BTW,did you know that the captain of the english destroyer let the captain of U110 being killed by one of his crewmen with a machine gun?
The German tried to swim back to U110 since the self-sinking device malfunctioned and he wanted to sink it himself.
Very mean of the British captain,if you ask me,but that's war...

But I bet that Captain saw many fellow ships sunk by Deutsche torpedoes...

Just some, "justified" revenge.