The Tunnel

A film originally broadcast on German television, THE TUNNEL offers a dramatization of real events that occurred after the Berlin Wall was erected in 1961. Harry Melchior (Heino Ferch) is a champion swimmer who manages to escape from East to West Germany just before the wall is completed. He achieves this through a fake passport, but his family members are less lucky, and they remain ensconced in the clutches of Communism on the east side of the wall. Determined to bring his sister, Lotte (Alexandra Maria Lara), with him, Harry hatches a foolhardy scheme to secure her presence in his company once again. Deciding to dig a vast tunnel under the wall so he can bring Lotte through, Harry calls on his friend, a fellow East German escapee, Matthis Hiller (Sebastian Koch), to help him. The task proves too large for just two men, so they assemble a crew to help them. As technical problems beset the operation, an American film crew from NBC arrives and offers to fund the rescue effort; a dramatization of this particular event was filmed in 1962, and named ESCAPE FROM EAST BERLIN. Meanwhile, as the men dig, the grim fate that awaits anyone attempting to defect from East Germany is made clear through the barbarous words and actions of terrifying communist leader Colonel Kruger (Uwe Kockish). A thoughtful recreation of events, Roland Suso Richter's film manages to adroitly divide its time between telling this incredible tale, while also articulating the general feelings of anxiety and turmoil that beset Germany at this point in its history. The performances carefully depict the apprehension of everyone involved in the operation, and some beautiful cinematography manages to belie the film's TV-movie origins, capturing a country rocked by change during this deeply unsettling period.

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