• OPERATION SEAWOLF (film review by Mark R. Leeper)

    From Mark Leeper@21:1/5 to All on Sun Oct 16 07:15:01 2022
    The first scene of OPERATION SEAWOLF takes place near the end
    of World War I (May 12, 1918), when we see a young Hans Kessler
    serving on a German U-boat that is torpedoed. This is done with a
    mix of English with German accents, and German with English
    subtitles. Luckily, they abandon this technique early on.
    Throughout they could really have used subtitles to make it
    possible to understand the accents and the sometimes muffled sound,
    but screeners often do not provide these. The main part of the
    film is of Kessler at the end of World War II (April 27, 1945),
    when he is chosen to lead an attack on the United States homeland
    by using a submarine to bring a V-2 rocket within range of New York
    City. (I should point out that this movie is fiction, and not
    based on an historical event.)

    The underwater scenes seem partly produced by showing an empty room
    and smoke, and partly by simple animation. One scene appears to be
    borrowed from the "Panzerlied" scene of the film THE BATTLE OF THE
    BULGE.

    Having an African American officer and crew on a submarine chaser
    seemed jarring, but was actually basically accurate, except that
    Captain Samuel L. Gravely, Jr., did not come aboard USS PC-1264 (as
    an ensign) until after the events of the movie. (The actor, Hiram
    A. Murray, bears a striking resemblance to the real Gravely.)

    The film is primarily about the conflicts within the German
    military towards the end of the war: some wanted to fight on even
    when the result was obvious, while others felt that would be
    futile. Kessler is dismissive of the crew he is assigned (he says
    that are not wolves, they are boys), and this results in various
    acts of implicit disobedience that form the backbone of the film.

    Released theatrically 10/03/2022. Rating: +1 (-4 to +4) or 6/10

    Film Credits:
    <https://www.imdb.com/title/tt13429928/reference>

    What others are saying:
    <https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/operation_seawolf

    --
    Mark R. Leeper

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