U-571 is about how the crew of a US submarine captured and Enigma machine from a Nazi U-boat in 1941 (I believe).
The actual capture was carried out by the Royal Navy, not the Americans. In fact, the US did not join the war until 1942 and failed to get their hands on an Enigma muchine until 1944.
If you get the DVD of this, they actually acknolege this, and have the documentary on how the Royal Navy broke the code. The film makers did go a bit over the top in the moviemakers license, but I don't think its worth 10 as there are piles of movies out there saying they are historically correct and portray real events, but are so incorrect it's not funny.
Where were you people when this movie came out? Back then the film makers never said that this is what happened. In fact they even said the movie is actually a combination of several events that happened during the war.
I was watching it the day it came out. Course I live in Australia, so all our movies come out about 6 months after America. I don't know what the movie makers said at the premiere or anywhere else, but from what I've seen on the DVD (Which is full of stuff) they don't say anything about this being based on a true story. They only thing they say it is based on is the cracking of the Enigma codes, nothing else.
This movie slip up should be worth 10 out of 10, but movie makers everywhere are going to continue to distort history and change whatever they feel like just to make movies. This cheapens all slipups for movies that claim to be based on historic fact.
Get the novelization of the movie and compare how it ends to the movie's ending. Or if you'd prefer it being given away, they throw the Enigma over the side of the raft so that if captured by the Germans, they won't have it.
Also, the US entered the war in 1941. December 8, 1941 war was declared on Japan and December 11, 1941, war was declared on Germany, thusly entering the war in Europe. As the nation already had naval forces involved in dealing with the threat to Atlantic convoys (which were authorized to fire upon U-boats), this declaration of war meant that naval forces protecting the convoys were now officially at war.
Admittedly there is no claim that this is an historically correct film, although the average cinema-going person knows little of the specifics of World War II, let alone the Enigma machine, and they would be left with the impression that the Americans are trying to muscle in on British history. And the comment in poor taste by some Australian about how the Brits have no good actors is idiotic, as it is not the point. Name me the last Australian actor to be taken seriously, and don't say Mel Gibson, because he is joke, and hardly Australian.
It's not a slip-up. Slip-ups are unintentional. I don't think that they got a hold of this story and didn't know where it came from. It was an American movie made primarily for American audiences. As this was intentional, it can hardly be considered a slip up.
In accordance with your "1941" remark, the beginning (the prologue) says "Spring, 1942." So, the US was in the war then. And the story is fictional, the actual U-571 was sunk along with U-271 on January 28, 1944.
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