Wolfgang Petersen, a German filmmaker whose 1981 drama Das Boot earned global acclaim for its humane depiction of U-boat sailors during the Second World War and who later had a long Hollywood career directing action-driven blockbusters including Air Force One, The Perfect Storm and Troy, has died aged 81.
After launching his directing career in the 1960s on West German television, Petersen was vaulted to international prominence by Das Boot (The Boat), a harrowing anti-war film that brought audiences inside a cramped, sweaty German submarine. “The film is like a documentary in its impact,” wrote film critic Roger Ebert, observing that there were sequences “when we feel trapped in the same time and space as the desperate crew”. He added, “Wolfgang Petersen’s direction is an exercise in pure craftsmanship.”
