Screenwriter Feels Rotten About U-571 Alterations
Filed under: Action, Universal
Successful screenwriter David Ayer got his first on-screen credit with Universal's war movie U-571, an ensemble submarine adventure that was (very) loosely based on actual events. With some slick direction by Jonathan Mostow and a cast that includes Harvey Keitel, Bill Paxton, Matthew McConaughey and David Keith, I thought the movie was a fairly fine piece of matinee-style entertainment.But my buddies over in England were pretty damn pissed about the changes made between the world of reality and the realm of cinema. Basically, the movie states that American servicemen were the ones who acquired that mega-important "Enigma" code machine from the Nazis, while actual history dictates that it was British men who did the heroic deed. And those who respect British Naval History were seriously (not to mention justifiably) displeased with what they saw in U-571. (It'd be like someone making a biopic of Frenchman John Wayne.)
Anyway, it's six years later, and Mr. Ayer now has something to say regarding U-571, and that something comes in the form of a semi-apology. "It was a distortion... a mercenary decision to create this parallel history in order to drive the movie for an American audience," is what the filmmaker told the BBC recently, as if we didn't already know the scoop on the movie. Still, it's very cool to hear the guy own up to the misstep, even if it was only his very first project for Universal and he probably didn't have much say in the matter one way or the other.
For his part, David Ayer followed up U-571 with the goofy The Fast and the Furious, the intense Training Day, the underappreciated Dark Blue, and the guiltily pleasurable S.W.A.T. Also due very soon is Ayer's directorial debut: Harsh Times, starring Christian Bale and Freddy Rodriguez, is, in my opinion, the best work he's ever done. (And although I do consider myself a fan of Mr. Ayer's work, I must now throw down a large gauntlet of skepticism regarding his next project: an alleged remake of The Wild Bunch.)
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
8-20-2006 @ 3:13PM
Kevin said...
I saw, the movie back when it came out, and while I enjoyed it, I knew at the time that it was actually
the British who were the heroes. As an American, I would like to say to the British that I think it was inexcuseable to portray the heroes in the movie as
American when they were in fact British. Movie studios should never EVER re-write history in such a manner, and Universal should be reprimanded for doing
so.
Thanks to the brave acts of members of the British Navy, the Germans may have been prevented form developing an atomic bomb first. Shame on Universal!!
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8-20-2006 @ 5:05PM
The Truth said...
Kevin has said it all. I heartily endorse his comments. Shame on Universal and any other studio for rewriting history. I did't know who actually acquired the Enigma code machine. Congratulations to the British !
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8-20-2006 @ 9:07PM
Geoff said...
Why, thank you. I'll pass your congratulations along.
Pip pip.
(I hated U-571. It was probably a good film, but really couldn't get past the whole distortion-of-history thing. Shame, really.)
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8-20-2006 @ 10:09PM
Damien said...
However the US DID in fact capture a damaged German submarine and it DID have aboard an enigma machine. The US did this quite some time after the Brits did it, though.
http://www.history.navy.mil/faqs/faq91-1.htm
It was BECAUSE the Brits already had an enigma that the US was able to capture the U-505
The British got an enigma machine first and deserve all the credit and honor we can give but lets not chastise this film maker too harshly. The US did do the things portrayed in the movie. In 1944
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8-21-2006 @ 3:53AM
Gerry said...
I think the point should be made (and I say this as a Brit) that we Brits are pretty effective at ignoring the rather major role of the Polish in acquiring an enigma machine. It is hard to get annoyed about this sort of thing when everybody (us included) does it.
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8-21-2006 @ 10:31AM
Reinout said...
As a historian, I hated just about everything in U-571. I liked the shots of subs in action, but that's where the praise ends. The Americanizing of the events and the unbelievable sequence of events were horrible. The worst part though, was the resurfacing of the way Hollywood stereotypes Germans. In real life, out of the thousands of armed encounters, only once did a German sub captain order to fire on survivors in the waters. The unlucky ship was the SS Peleus in 1944, by commander Eck of U-852 near the coast of Somalia. Yet what does the opening scene of U-571 depict? Yes of course, a German commander habitually ordering survivors to be machinegunned... It took me less than 3 minutes to know this movie was an utter waste.
Regards, Reinout
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8-21-2006 @ 5:23PM
George Myers said...
Maybe we should thank Mr. Mick Jagger for putting the facts out for us the public to think about, which is where I heard about it first. Maybe also we should thank the post office that sent an enigma to the wrong address and MI6 (?) had one for a weekend, delivered on time without suspicion. One of the American code crackers states in a book about the Norse rune stone allegedly found in Maine, that the ecclesiastics that began accompanying voyages started coding observations after Iceland became the first Christian nation around 1000 CE (Common or Christian era) and the Spirit Lake stone might be one of the as late as the early 14th century "Norse" visits to the New World.
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