Synopsis

In May 1942, an American submarine crew is sent on a covert mission to board the disabled German U-571 and seize its Enigma coding machine. After their own submarine is destroyed, the sailors become trapped aboard the captured U-boat, surrounded by enemy forces and struggling to survive long enough to deliver the machine to Allied intelligence.

Factoids & Trivia

• The story is fictional, but it draws loosely on real British Royal Navy operations that captured German Enigma equipment from U-110 in May 1941 and U-559 in October 1942. The actual German submarine U-571 was never captured.

• The decision to make the rescuers American rather than British caused a major controversy in the United Kingdom. The film was criticized in Parliament for minimizing the contribution and sacrifices of the British sailors involved in the real Enigma captures.

• Producer Dino De Laurentiis said the production built one full-size submarine for open-water filming and two more for use in a tank in Malta. Additional shooting took place at Cinecitta Studios in Rome.

• Filming ran from January 25 through May 30, 1999, with Malta and Rome providing the principal locations for the film's submarine interiors and ocean sequences.

• The film received two Academy Award nominations at the 2001 ceremony. It won for Sound Editing, while losing the Best Sound award to Gladiator.

• An especially graphic death was reshot to secure a PG-13 rating. In the revised version, the character is knocked overboard rather than being shown suffering a more explicit fatal injury.

• The submarine sets, models, and exterior replica were later reused in other productions. The non-diving replica built for the film was also used for a television adaptation of Das Boot.