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Becoming a submariner is the cherished dream of many boys, but only a few have realized it in reality. The rest can only watch movies about submarines and brave crew members, continuing to dream of being in their place.
Our today’s selection presents a list of the 10 best films about submarines and submariners.
10 Remove Periscope (1996)
Tom Dodge has been waiting for 20 years for his superiors to finally notice him and put him in command of a submarine. But every time his name comes up, Navy officials conclude that he is too reckless to command one of the costly nuclear submarines.
They decide to entrust him with the old diesel submarine “Stingray”, left over from the Second World War, thereby insuring themselves. If the submarine is lost at sea, who cares? In any case, it was junk.
The Stingray’s mission is to outsmart the entire US nuclear fleet and demonstrate how vulnerable the country is to attacks from Russian diesel submarines. If Dodge manages to manage, perhaps he will be given a real submarine. “Remove periscope” is a great movie for a good mood.
9. K-19 (2002)
In 1961, Russia and the United States experience military tensions between themselves, as a result of which the Russians deployed their nuclear K-19 under the command of Captain Mikhail Polenin (Liam Neeson).
Due to the fact that there are problems with the ship, the Kremlin official Marshal Zelentsov decides to put a more qualified captain Alexei Vostrikov (Harrison Ford) in Polenin’s place, leaving him only an assistant to Vostrikov.
This has a bad effect on relations with the crew, especially since Vostrikov continues to conduct test training in order to increase the crew’s reaction time in hopeless situations. Much of this will come in handy when a malfunction of a ship’s nuclear reactor puts the crew in extremely dangerous situations that could cost the entire crew – and others – their lives.
The stubborn Vostrikov and the more understanding Polenin must learn to work together to find a solution before the entire crew perishes.
8. Kursk (2018)
August 2000 Russian submarineKursk” goes to sea for exercises. When a training torpedo explodes inside a nuclear vessel, it remains at the bottom of the Barents Sea.
Kursk is an unusual combination of talent: director Thomas Vinterberg, best known as one of the leaders of the ultra-realist Dogme 95 movement, and screenwriter Robert Rodat, author of Saving Private Ryan and The Patriot.
Looking at the tragic true story from 2000 of how a Russian submarine was stranded for seven days at the bottom of the Barents Sea after a series of explosions, Kursk: The Last Mission (titled Command in the US) is an entertaining film about a disaster that did not break the spirit of the crew.
7. Heavy Water (1979)
Soviet film “Heavy water” about the crew of a submarine, whose members will have to fight not only with external threats, but also with their own experiences. Everyone, from the commander to the private, had close people at home: friends, parents, lovers. Despite the fact that the combat mission is above all, it is not so easy to get personal problems out of your head.
6. Secret fairway (1986)
The commander of the torpedo boat, Boris Shubin, valiantly serves in the Soviet army, although he did not take an active part in the battles, since in 1944 it was quiet in the Baltic Fleet. Everything changes when he stumbles upon an unmarked German ship. Now he has to unravel the secret plan of the enemy and save many lives. “Secret fairway” is a film that raises many moral questions.
5. Call of the Wolf (2019)
Former diplomat-turned-filmmaker Antonin Baudry made his first feature film with audiences on a nuclear submarine. Following its success in France, the film was released on Netflix in the United States last summer. “There are three types of people: those who are alive, those who are dead, and those who are at sea.” – this quote from Aristotle opens “call of the wolf”, an action thriller and directorial debut from Antonin Baudry.
«What struck me when I started researching this topic is that the best tool for detecting sounds in submarines is not a machine, but the human ear.“, he said in an interview.
«Golden ear” is a term for a person aboard a submarine who can recognize and analyze sounds. There are only a few golden ears in France. They study at a school whose name is simply fantastic – CIRA, Center for Interpretation and Acoustic Recognition. Few people know about the school, and its activities are top secret.
The protagonist of the film, played by François Civil, is a golden ear tasked with deciphering and recognizing the sounds made by propellers, warship engines and “wolf call» – enemy sonar. Although the protagonist is considered infallible, he still makes a mistake that endangers the lives of his team and sets off a chain of events against the backdrop of a nuclear plot.
4. 72 meters (2004)
In the center of the plot of the tape “72 meters”- the crew of the Slavyanka submarine, who, after the collapse of the Soviet Union, refused to take the oath of independence to Ukraine and remained to serve in Russia. Planned exercises did not go according to plan when an old mine was raised by a shock wave from the bottom, which threatens the entire crew and the submarine.
All the stars of Russian cinema are in the cast: Andrey Krasko, Marat Basharov, Chulpan Khamatova, Vladislav Galkin, Sergey Garmash and others.
3. Abyss (1989)
«Abyssis an absolutely wonderful action movie that taps into everyone’s fear of depth and darkness. Filmed in incredibly grueling conditions, this is a raw, claustrophobic film full of frail people tensing in fear of being crushed by tons of water hanging over them.
2. Play in compartments (1985)
The basis of the filmPlay in compartments” lay down the story of the same name by Vladimir Tyurin, which tells about the military exercises of the Soviet fleet. The submarine under the command of Loginov and the anti-submarine ship under the leadership of Zolotnitsky become conditional opponents, but despite the desire to win, they first of all remain people.
1. Submarine (1981)
«Submarine“is a milestone in German cinema: it is the most expensive ($2 million) and most popular (at home and abroad) German film of its time, becoming the most successful foreign-language film release in the United States. In addition, he managed to capture a certain heroism of soldiers in the most shameful period in the history of Germany.
The film is based on the novel of the same name by Lothar-Günther Buchheim, a World War II submariner who wrote the novel over 30 years later (1973), turning a dark and unsung war experience into something great.
A shift in perspective changes our view of the sailors themselves: from murderers in the despicable service of a defeated dictatorship, to the most heroic brotherhood that fell victim to the Nazi regime.
The film does not justify the actions of Germany in World War II, but only shows that there were normal people in its army. The director’s cut is almost 5 hours long, so it’s definitely not for everyone.