."the psychic life of the ship's captain is the support for that of his crew. He is the father figure on who the survival of the crew depends and the man whose death stands in for the fate of the fighting." (Prager 237).
The easiest character for the audience to identify is the Captain. From when we first meet Herr Kaleun and on we always see him in complete control of himself and of what"s going on. Nothing can overwhelm him. His strength comes from his ability to control himself and his emotions. Throughout the film, Herr Kaleun, appears excessively phlegmatic. In the first scene we see him driving the other two officers on the way to a brothel. It is the night before they set out to sea. The first shot is out the windshield of the car on a road along the shore that explores infinity. Right off the bat, the audience feels like they are being taken somewhere out of their control. The next shot is a CU shot of the driver from outside the driver side window, who is, naturally the Captain. In the background we see the war correspondent. For now we identify with the lieutenant/war correspondent (sitting passenger side) because, at this point, we know as much as he. As the car drives along the shore, the Captain remains motionless and focused on the road ahead. In the background, the lieutenant seems uneasy, he itches his nose and looks back out the window. The shot then cuts back to the shot of the road as the camera travels along it. Eventually in the distance we approach a man, who approaches the car from the shore. The car has to swerve to avoid hitting the man. The obviously drunken man mumbles what seems to be a song as he pounds on the hood of the car in an almost unconscious state. The camera sits at a MS to LS in the back of the car, at an eye level that makes the audience feel as if they are riding in the back. The car backs up, sheds the drunken man and continues on.