The year is 1941, the height of World War II. In German-occupied France, a youthful submarine crew gathers for a last night of drunken revelry before they will hit the seas. They feast, make love, dance and live it up as if there is no tomorrow. For them, there very well may not be. Though they cannot know this, of the 40,000 Germans who will serve aboard U-boats, a mere 10,000 will return home to their loved ones.

A U-Boat crew sets out on their mission...to sink as many Allied convoys as they can. For this mission , a journalist has been assigned to join the crew. Played by Herbert Groenemeyer, he probably represents Lothar-Gunther Buchheim, whose novel was based on these wartime events. The boat's captain is the rock the others depend on. Experienced, steady, he's capable of shouting ``I demand proper reports!'' even as the boat seems to be breaking up. He is not a Nazi, and the movie makes that clear. Through days of sheer terror in playing cat and mouse with British destroyers; and days of boredom waiting for convoy reports, the movie takes us into the lives and experiences of these submariners. The new director's cut is 210 minutes long and highly recommended.