(Some spoilers) One of the key Italian films of the wartime era, this is a submarine-disaster drama about the heroism of men under duress. Made under the auspices of Mussolini's ministry of defense, it is enacted by non-professionals and military personnel. During a maneuver exercise the submarine A-103, at 80 meters of depth during a submergence test, collides with a surface vessel that unexpectedly cross right over it. The submarine drops to the ocean floor and is immobilized.
Answers to the vessel's calls for help do not immediately arrive. Reserve air supply will last only another 30 hours. Later, another submarine arrives at the scene, and a series of rescue maneuvers are put into action. Some crew members are sent up to the surface one by one by means of a buoy. Divers are later sent down from the ships Titanus and Cyclops to check the sub's damage. They believe that it can still be saved with the few men remaining by sending down air from the surface. The remaining men make every attempt to get the sub up again, while families back home are told of the events and wait anxiously for news of the results.
Finally the sub is repaired on the outside, and one crew member remains on the inside until the vessel is finally dislodged and is able to resurface. In the course of all this one man loses his life in order to save his comrades. The film is dedicated "to the memory of the crews that will not return from the depths of the sea, who died so that it may be ours." MARE NOSTRO. (Our sea, i.e. the Mediterranean as the Fascist government continually asserted.)
The movie exemplifies a kind of calm humaneness that is very affecting and very beautifully done. This almost overshadows the thoughts that, after all, this was an axis vessel of destruction, allied with the forces of Germany, at a time when those nations were at war with England and soon would be at war with the United States. Director Francesco De Robertis was a collaborator on Roberto Rossellini's LA NAVE BIANCA, about a hospital ship in wartime Italy used to care for injured Italian military and others.
Answers to the vessel's calls for help do not immediately arrive. Reserve air supply will last only another 30 hours. Later, another submarine arrives at the scene, and a series of rescue maneuvers are put into action. Some crew members are sent up to the surface one by one by means of a buoy. Divers are later sent down from the ships Titanus and Cyclops to check the sub's damage. They believe that it can still be saved with the few men remaining by sending down air from the surface. The remaining men make every attempt to get the sub up again, while families back home are told of the events and wait anxiously for news of the results.
Finally the sub is repaired on the outside, and one crew member remains on the inside until the vessel is finally dislodged and is able to resurface. In the course of all this one man loses his life in order to save his comrades. The film is dedicated "to the memory of the crews that will not return from the depths of the sea, who died so that it may be ours." MARE NOSTRO. (Our sea, i.e. the Mediterranean as the Fascist government continually asserted.)
The movie exemplifies a kind of calm humaneness that is very affecting and very beautifully done. This almost overshadows the thoughts that, after all, this was an axis vessel of destruction, allied with the forces of Germany, at a time when those nations were at war with England and soon would be at war with the United States. Director Francesco De Robertis was a collaborator on Roberto Rossellini's LA NAVE BIANCA, about a hospital ship in wartime Italy used to care for injured Italian military and others.
