Blitz, Lee and The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare are probably the most prominent World War 2 films to release in cinemas this year.
Yet occasionally a hidden gem with a lower budget goes under the radar… the submarine radar, for that matter.
Having debuted in 2023 in its native Italy as Comandante, The Commander finally reaches UK shores this weekend.
Shot on a budget of just £12 million, this new film from Edoardo De Angelis charts an incredible true story of sacrificial rescue during the Second World War.
And what makes it even more inspiring is that it involved saving enemy men who would have otherwise drowned.
The Commander is set during the Battle of the Atlantic when Comandante Cappellini submarine Commander Salvatore Todoro disobeyed Axis orders. After sinking a Belgian ship called the Kabalo, he had his crew rescue the survivors treading water. Unable to dive due to an overcrowded vessel, he was forced to navigate on the surface for three days to get the men to safety, all the while being targeted by the British Royal Navy. Beautifully shot on a low budget, this tense thriller begins on land as Pierfrancesco Favino’s Commander and his men poetically say goodbye to their wives and girlfriends before heading off to war.
The first half of the film depicts life aboard the cramped and sweaty submarine at war as the men reckon with their mission, while the second half sees them dealing with the Belgian survivors. Although focused more on the individual heroism of the true story, the film is slightly dismissive in its reckoning with Italy’s fascistic past. Nevertheless, the sacrificial loving of enemies is touching and, as the Commander himself points out, the opposite of how the Nazis would have dealt with the shipwrecked men in the water.
The Commander will be released in select UK cinemas on Friday and will be available on demand from December 23, 2024.