National Geographic - Lost Subs

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Rated: NR (Not Rated)
Type: DVD
Studio: National Geographic Video
Release Date: 2002-11-05
Lost Subs tells four stories of disaster and heroism in the face of almost-certain death. What brings these awesome machines down, to be catastrophically crushed at the bottom of the sea? What lessons have been learned from investigating the wreckage of downed subs? The US and the former Soviet Union have both lost subs to the dark waters of chance and tragedy, and the stories from both sides - of K-19, the Kursk, the USS Thresher and USS Squalus will be told - by the submariners themselves, by their surviving family members and sometimes by the corpse of the downed submarine itself.

Another National Geographic hit
This film follows in the tradition of the other shipwreck films that NG has produced. Information about the subs, films of the wrecks when possible, interviews with family members, are all interwoven into a good story. My only complaint is that they only picked a couple of subs and could have done a lot more.

Captions
Captions for "Lost Subs" were, at least, attempted, unlike "Pearl Harbor," but they weren't very good. Many of the captions were cut off, much like typing off the edge of a page, which ruined much of the legibility. Otherwise, it was a good production with plenty of extra stuff.

All I ever wanted to know about lost subs
Terrific documentary. A great tribute to those who were lost.

Deep disappointment
I am a fan of the National Geographic series, but the poor quality of this relatively new issue was a deep disappointment. Rather than tracing the flaws in design, production, or emergency procedures through the evolution of the submarine (as I had expected), the documentary spent a huge amount of footage on filler, including a lengthy bit of fluff about the fun-loving antics of a current submarine crew. The facts that led to the demise or near-demise of each submarine were glossed over, while the camera dwelt at great length on the anguish of a few of the survivors. The incidents were presented nearly free of scientific content or historic context.

An dramatic retelling of US and Soviet submarine accidents
Lost Subs is a very interesting history of US and Soviet submarine accidents.It has some very clear film footage of the rescue of 33 men from the USS Sqalus in May 1939 and also uses recreations and good CGI footage to tell the story.It also has interviews with survivors.There are stories on both American and Russian submarines such as the ill fated Russian Sub the Kursk in which days went by as doomed men were trapped at the bottom when a torpedo exploded.The story on the Russian K-19 is dramatic and differs from the fictional movie version. Eight heroic men sacrificed their lives by volunteering to go into the Sub's reactor to fix it,coming out vomiting and swelling up.They died a few days later and others died a few years later from the effects of this radioactive submarine.The sacrifice was to avoid a meltdown of K-19's reactor.The documentary also covers the USS Portsmouth and the USS Thresher,which like K-19 was sent out too soon when it was not ready and imploded at a great depth after a power failure.The failure to rescue the men of the Kursk is followed by some dramatic footage of a grieving Russian mother confronting some Russian officers.This 54 minute and 35 second DVD also has a map detailing where and how the subs were lost.It has written and voice details with the map with all the details about the subs.All in all,a dramatic retelling that won't put you into a hurry to go down into a submarine.