U-571, a fictional story inspired by several different WWII incidents, follows a group of sailors who are trying to capture the German’s Engima code machine, so that they can find out where the U-boats are headed in time to prevent them from sinking the Allies’ supply ships.

Minute for minute, it is one of the most tense and exciting war movies ever made, with the crew on the brink of disaster and often several disasters at once, for most of the movie’s running time. Indeed, it is so busy being exciting that it is sometimes impossible to tell what is going on, especially since the sets are so dark, drippy, and claustrophobic and the dialogue so jargon-crammed. Still, it is more than a mindless testosterone explosion-fest. As Lt. Tyler (Matthew McConaughey) learns, it is not enough to be brave, loyal, and honorable.

As the movie begins, he is bitter at not having been recommended for command. The Captain (Bill Paxton) explains that it is not enough that Tyler is willing to give his life for the men. He has to be willing to order them to give their lives, and then he has to be able to live with the consequences. And he as to be able to do it “without pause, without reflection, or you’ve got no business being a submarine captain.” Later, when Tyler and his men have taken over the U-Boat, and his first orders are tentative, Chief Klough (Harvey Keitel), the non-commissioned officer who has seen it all, takes him aside to tell him that “The skipper always knows what to do, whether he does or not.” Tyler is confronted with decision after decision, forced to chose quickly and credibly among nothing but long shots. 1234567890

Submarines immediately grab our attention. They are isolated and vulnerable. Once they leave the dock, they become a world of their own, with no time to wait for orders when they get into trouble. In movies from “20,000 Leagues Under the Sea” to “Operation Petticoat,” “Crimson Tide” and “The Hunt for Red October” we see men who must make life and death decisions without time or information, and we get to think, as we lean back and eat our popcorn, about how we would fare 100 kilometers below the surface. We get to see some terrific examples of problem- solving and moral choices.

Families who see this movie should discuss how we develop the foundation of values and experience to enable us to make those choices. They should also talk about the difference between fiction and reality. The setting and the references to historical incidents like the capture of the Enigma may lead people who watch this movie to believe that it was based on a true story. It is not. It is based on pieces of several stories, mostly involving British, not American, sailors and soldiers, and it is heavily fictionalized, at times bearing more relation to Star Wars than it does to history.

The movie does give credit to the extraordinary heroism of British and American servicemen who succeeded in getting the Engima, by thanking them at the end of the movie. Some older kids will want to know more about this. They will enjoy Capturing Enigma: How HMS Petard Seized the German Naval Codes by Stephen Harper, Between Silk and Cyanide: A Codemaker’s War, 1941-1945, by Leo Marks, and Station X: Decoding Nazi Secrets, by Michael Smith. Families may also want to talk about the treatment of the movie’s one black character, Eddie (Terrence “T.C.” Carson), clearly overqualified for the only position on the ship for which he is eligible – he serves the crew’s food. At this time, of course, the service was still segregated.

Parent should know that this is an exceptionally intense and scary movie. Many people are brutally killed, including characters that the audience comes to care about.

Families who enjoy this movie will also enjoy other submarine movies, including Crimson Tide, Das Boot, and The Hunt for Red October.

Plot: Steven Lidz is the son of Sid (John Turturro), an inventor. He is a distracted man who “believes in documentation” and empirical data. Steven is closer to his warm-hearted mother, the emotional center of the family. When she becomes ill, he goes to live with his father’s two brothers (Michael Richards and Maury Chaikin), both borderline (and sometimes more than borderline) mentally ill. They are hoarders, with huge piles of newspapers filling every bit of available floor space, paranoid, telling him there are only eight trustworthy people in the world (the other four have been killed), and delusional. But they love Steven very much, and see in him a strength and ability to be great that he finds very comforting. They rename him “Franz” because they think it suits him better than Steven.

Franz picks up some of his uncles’ peculiarities (singing the “Internationale” in school while the other kids recite the Pledge of Allegiance), but also draws strength from what they tell him. They encourage him to connect to his heritage by studying for his bar mitzvah. And his uncle’s fascination with objects inspires him to hold on to a bit of his mother by collecting small items that make him feel close to her. When she dies, he retrieves hours of “documentation” (film of experiments and family home movies) from the garbage. He and his father watch them together, and, with the uncles, begin to document the family again.

Discussion: Based on the autobiographical novel by sportwriter Franz Lidz (he kept the name his uncles bestowed on him), this is a quietly moving story of a boy growing up in the midst of incomprehensible loss. Perhaps it is the very incomprehensibility of it all that makes his uncles seem understandable by comparison. Or perhaps they just have a less frightening way of being impossible to understand. To Steven, they are almost like children, the way they play with the “high-bouncers” from the collection of lost rubber balls that “hold the sounds of the children who played with them.” He makes pancakes for them the way his mother made pancakes for him and his sister. He protects them from the landlord who wants to see them evicted. They have time for him, which his parents don’t. They have answers for him, which no one else does. They see him as “Franz” and “Franz” is who he decides he wants to be.

This is a movie about loss, but more than that it is a movie about families, and the acceptance of family members who are not always easy to understand. This includes Sid as well as the uncles.

The movie raises the question of faith. Sid is relentlessly scientific and is furious that his brothers have encouraged Franz to study Judaism. He tells them that “religion is a crutch, only cripples need crutches.” But Franz’s mother, dying, says maybe Franz is right.

Franz’s attitude toward his uncles is very sympathetic, even protective. But Franz and his friend Ash play a prank on Uncle Danny, slipping him a note that sends his paranoia into overdrive. Danny commits himself, and when Franz admits that he wrote the note, Danny tells him it is all right, that it made it possible for him to get help.

Questions for Kids:

· Why does Steven give up instead of giving his speech?

· Why does Steven decide to go live with his uncles? Why do his parents let him?

· Why do Sid and his brothers have different ideas about religion?

· What does “documentation” mean, and why is it important here?

· What does Sid mean by an “undisciplined mind”?

Connections: This was the first feature film directed by actress Diane Keaton (“Annie Hall” and “Father of the Bride”).

Activities: Older kids, particularly those familiar with Lidz’ sports writing, may want to read the book. Those who are not familiar with the Bar Mitzvah ceremony may enjoy attending one.