Watch Das Boot in a single sitting

This challenge was given to me by my friend Juliette, who is a big fan of the 1981 movie/mini-series (depending on which version you're watching) about a German U-Boat in World War Two. The uncut version is a whopping four-and-a-half hours long, so I've spent much of my Sunday sat in my jim-jams watching this epic.

One thing that struck is not only how well-made it is - the directing, the acting and the set design are all excellent. It also occurred to me that all this makes you completely forget just how cliched a lot of it is. Take a look at the characters. You've got a captain who hates the Nazis, and a first officer who's a fervent Nazi. There's the veteran who's close to cracking, another officer who's just completely devil-may-care. And of course, there's somebody who pines for his sweetheart back home (a war movie staple that generally screams, "I am so not getting back alive.") Oh, and the foil for all this is a naive war reporter.

A lot of the scenes are also straight from what you'd expect in a war movie set on a sub. There's a scene where the captain insists on taking the boat well below crush depth. And while they're down there, naturally there's somebody who goes mad and demands to be let out. There's a scene when they're forced to see first-hand the people they're killing rather than just hearing the explosions. And of course, there's the obligatory war-is-futile ending.

If it wasn't so well-crafted, all of this would stick out like a sore thumb. The fact that it doesn't is a tribute to the director, cast and set designers.