U-571 (2000)
Filmmakers may find a great tale from military history, but they don’t want to be bound by complete accuracy. They can change enough of the story to distance the film from the event while still using the general story themes. U-571(2000) is one of those films. The film, starring Matthew McConaughey, Bill Paxton, and Harvey Keitel, depicts an American submarine crew that tricks a Nazi U-boat team into abandoning their sub so they could capture the Enigma machine on board.
The deception of a German crew and capture of their Enigma machine and code books actually happened. This type of mission happened roughly fifteen times in World War II. Additionally, a U-571 existed in World War II. U-571, a deadly German U-boat, wasn’t captured by American forces; it sunk during a surface battle with an Australian Sunderland aircraft from the RAAF 461 squadron, with no survivors.
