The Tunnel (2001)

Berlin, Germany, 1961. Mothers and daughters, Fathers and sons, neighbors and friends were torn apart in one night, when the Berlin Wall was built. A hand full of people dug a tunnel under the Wall from the French Sector into the East to save 30. Permanent emotions, especially at the end of the movie. Excellent.

Fmovies: I'm reading the other reader's comments on this movie, and I'm completely bewildered- it was a nice, professional TV movie, but nothing to write home about. Strictly a by-the-numbers historical drama, with some happy plastic people vs. some not-so-happy grayish villains. The director seems all-pro but emotionally shallow, and doesn't really evoke the horror of East Germany- the place seemed about as threatening as a weekend at EuroDisney. Okay if you're flipping by it on television, but not worth paying real money for.

I think this is an important story & I wanted to like the film, but I found it excessively melodramatic. While I know a film can never deal with the full range of historical details, this was just too unbelievable, & all the convenient coincidences kept intruding as I watched, keeping me from becoming fully engrossed in the story. By the end, I was hunkered down in my seat muttering "yeah, sure!" to myself.

If you are interested in this theme, I recommend Margarethe von Trotta's Das Versprechen (The Promise) from 1995. Das Versprechen had me completely engrossed in the plight of families separated by the Berlin Wall, & by the end, I was crying like a baby!

The Tunnel fmovies. It is hard to believe that this movie lasted almost three hours. It was so compelling that you stayed glued to the screen the entire time and were surprised when it ended.

The acting by Heino Ferch (Downfall), Nicolette Krebitz (All the Queen's Men), Alexandra Maria Lara (Control, The Reader), Claudia Michelsen (The Reader), and Sebastian Koch (Black Book, The Lives of Others) was superlative. There were others that contributed to making Roland Suso Richter's film the superlative treat that it was.

To see the lengths that people will go through to save their loved ones is inspiring.

West Berliners dig a tunnel under the Berlin Wall, hoping to get their loved ones out of East Berlin. This is an exciting, fact-based drama that is well acted by a German cast. The running time of nearly three hours is somewhat excessive but the story is interesting enough that it rarely drags. The characters are well developed. There are a couple of emotional scenes that become too melodramatic and stray from the central plot line. For the most part, however, the filmmakers wisely stay focused on the the building of the tunnel. The tension builds nicely in the final part, as the escape plan is put in motion. The random use of black and white cinematography is distracting.

What a great movie! It's a very well made adventure flick that has the added advantage of being true.

I agree with the IMDb reviewer who said Heino Ferch, who plays the central character Harry Melchior, was a lot like Bruce Willis. I found the similarities profound.

And I thoroughly disagree with the New York Times reviewer (click on the EXTERNAL REVIEWS link to read it), who wrote: "They are joined by numerous volunteers hoping to rescue their own friends and family, and by the eager Fritzi (Nicolette Krebitz), whose solitary feminine presence complicates the team's relationships."

I don't know what movie that reviewer saw, but it wasn't this one. What a stupid remark, apropos of nothing, making it sound like a romantic triangle or quadrangle develops. There is nothing of the kind. In fact, Fritzi is a great female role model. When she first volunteers and the men wonder what sort of contribution she'll be able to make, she says, "I may look different from you when I'm naked, but I can work just as hard." Then she jumps into the tunnel and starts digging. Right on, sister.

I don't remember much about Germany before the Berlin Wall came down, beyond cinematic references to "Checkpoint Charlie" and the Brandenburg Gate and news reports I was too young to understand. But this movie really brings the horrors -- psychological as well as physical -- to life.

Another film that explores similar territory, psychological as well as physical, is The Lives of Others. Interestingly, the German actor Sebastian Koch has high profile roles in both films.