The first scene of OPERATION SEAWOLF takes place near the end of World War I (May 12, 1918), when we see a young Hans Kessler serving on a German U-boat that is torpedoed. This is done with a mix of English with German accents, and German with English subtitles. Luckily, they abandon this technique early on. Throughout they could really have used subtitles to make it possible to understand the accents and the sometimes muffled sound, but screeners often do not provide these. The main part of the film is of Kessler at the end of World War II (April 27, 1945), when he is chosen to lead an attack on the United States homeland by using a submarine to bring a V-2 rocket within range of New York City. (We should point out that this movie is fiction, and not based on an historical event.)

The underwater scenes seem partly produced by showing an empty room and smoke, and partly by simple animation. One scene appears to be borrowed from the "Panzerlied" scene of the film THE BATTLE OF THE BULGE.

Having an African American officer and crew on a submarine chaser seemed jarring, but was actually basically accurate, except that Captain Samuel L. Gravely, Jr., did not come aboard USS PC-1264 (as an ensign) until after the events of the movie. (The actor, Hiram A. Murray, bears a striking resemblance to the real Gravely.)

The film is primarily about the conflicts within the German military towards the end of the war: some wanted to fight on even when the result was obvious, while others felt that would be futile. Kessler is dismissive of the crew he is assigned (he says that are not wolves, they are boys), and this results in various acts of implicit disobedience that form the backbone of the film.

Released theatrically 10/03/2022. Rating: +1 (-4 to +4) or 6/10

Film Credits: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt13429928/reference

What others are saying: https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/operation_seawolf

					Mark R. Leeper
					Copyright 2022 Mark R. Leeper