The German cinematic masterpiece Das Boot, first screened in 1981, recounts the arduous voyage of a submarine during one of the tensest phases of the Second World War. Forty years later, the Oscar-nominated cinematographer responsible for the film’s distinctive camerawork is approaching the end of a long struggle of his own.
Jost Vacano, 87, has spent 15 years and roughly €200,000 suing Das Boot’s producers and distributors over the royalties he believes he is owed in the light of the film’s colossal success.
His lawsuits, which are now entering their final chapter, could set a precedent for artists behind dozens of other classics of German cinema to claim their share. In 1979 Vacano was hired to lead the camera team for the most expensive film yet produced in West Germany. During shooting, up to 50 actors and crew were crammed into the stifling interior of a replica U-boat.
Unable to get the footage he wanted with a conventional tripod, Vacano rigged up a handheld camera stabilised with a pair of gyroscopes. He was paid 204,000 deutschmarks (€104,000 in modern terms) for his two years of work. Over the following decades, however, Das Boot grew into a bigger hit than its producers had expected, making nearly €200 million at the box office.
Vacano felt cheated. Yet his luck changed in 2002, when Germany added a “fairness paragraph” to its copyright law. This allows creative professionals who worked on surprise bestsellers to seek a portion of the extra proceeds. He won the most important skirmishes, persuading judges to award him just over €900,000, including legal costs. Last week, however, the Federal Court of Justice in Karlsruhe found that the largest chunk of the money had been miscalculated. Despite the setback, Vacano believes he has made his point. “I see this as the continuation of my work, just on another level,” he said.
