29 Nov U-571
U-571, WWII movie starring Matthew McConaughey
(2000) In 1942, an American submarine captures the German submarine U-571 in order to seize its Enigma, the German machine used for the encryption of coded messages.
Since I am currently reading A Man Called Intrepid, the story of British spymaster William O. Stephenson I knew that the British had already captured the Enigma before 1942, and this couldn’t possibly be a true story. It’s not. There was a U-571, but it wasn’t involved in any such events.
As it turns out, because of the inaccuracies the film caused an uproar in Britain when it was released. I can understand why. Screenwriter David Ayers served on a submarine in the U.S. Navy, and he should have known better. He admitted later that U-571 was “a distortion … a mercenary decision to create this parallel history in order to drive the movie for an American audience.”
At the end of the movie, credit is (finally) given to the British seamen who in 1941 captured an Enigma and code books from U-110.
I guess the producers figured that U.S. audiences would buy more tickets if Matthew McConaughey was an American. I must admit that I haven’t seen Matthew in a better role. Harvey Keitel was great also.
Submarine movies are so intriguing to me. Perhaps it’s the claustrophobia or the awful anxiety waiting for the charges to explode.
U-571, in spite of the controversy, is an excellent submarine movie with lots of drama, lots of tension, and a good story.
U-571 (Collector’s Edition) at amazon.com
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