Das Boot with bad Accents... But you dont need subtitles

Rating: 7/10 (10 March 2003)

Before purchasing this DVD, I checked with IMDB and discovered that people 45 and above were the only ones to give this movie more than an okay rating. That's all right. I'm over 45, have a military background and am very familiar with the history of the Soviet Union's first nuclear sub.
With that said, I must tell you that this film is really very good. Not being of the generation that needs Cerebellum based FX electrodes to enjoy a film, I emersed myself into a true reality flick.
One of the most common and childish criticism of K-19 seems to be that Harrison Ford had a lousy Russian accent. Well, have your high school teacher give you an "A" for linquistic analysis and go to the head of the class. But it's really irrelevant.
The acting was excellent, particularly for the well casted and numerous second string crew. (SPOILER?) Sorry boys and girls. There wasn't a nuclear explosion to blow up polar bears, melt the ice flows and drown New Jersey. But a graphic visual of a "China Syndrome" isn't really what makes this movie taught and filled with emotional depth. Reality doesn't work that way and this movie was very true to life.
It's sad that so few people have a military background anymore. They would have appreciated the impact of military people working together to battle the chill of catastrophy's creeping hand. The sense of patriotic duty (opps, did I use a term that's on the politically correct banned word list) combined with self sacrifice was very real. Barring some theatrical reshaping of history, the story was true to what actually happened.
Like other movies that are coming out now, the viewer is expected to have some level of historical literacy to fully appreciate the drama. That so many lack this knowledge doesn't say much for our educational system.
K-19 The Widowmaker is a first class historical drama played out during the most dangerous of cold war years. It's action packed for the historically literate, giving a good taste of the military ideal and the meaning of honor. I give it a 7.1 out of 10.