Le tunnel

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.

This is an exceptionally well-built film with a subject more than worth the effort, well delimited and well illuminated. Teaches a lot, by showing, not saying. Truly beyond praise.

Der Tunnel illustrates how it felt to live in East Germany in the years before the Wall was built, how it felt once it was built, and the terrible determination of some people who escaped in the first few days, to make their escape serve others in East Berlin by trying to bring them to the West, even if the attempt should cost them their own lives. The film's primary power lies there, in the testimony value of each of its frames.

I lived for a few months in Germany less than four years after the events shown, within a walk from the East German border. I visited East Berlin several times and traipsed (illegally) into East Germany once. Der Tunnel shows truths I would never have found the words to explain, and shows them in a way anyone can feel, if perhaps by watching the film more than once. Another film that is instructive on some of the same topics is Volker Schlondorf's semi-fictional Legends of Rita, well worth watching after Der Tunnel. (Legends of Rita takes place in the last years before the Wall fell, more than 20 years later.)

One note. In Der Tunnel, the more people are compromised by the East German regime, the more they invoke their conscience and their deep-felt personal opinions. (You might call this the Lutheran variant of Stalinism.) This occurs equally in Legends, except that in the latter the character who is totally "political consciousness"-driven is the West German Rote-Armee protagonist, who does nothing but meaningless murders until she escapes to the East and, there, is kept under control. So, in Legend, the various East German security people come off better with their "conscience" than does the truly-awful protagonist. In Der Tunnel, they don't come out as well. As for the diggers, they never talk about conscience or opinion at all. That they will do everything in their power to save their loved ones from the regime is simply obvious to all and never discussed.

A second note. The only non-East-German involved in the digging is an American undercover operative. Despite working, no doubt, under the same constraints as his opposite numbers, he shows as much determination as any of the other diggers, and perhaps even more courage.

Concerning Marcel's ending query -- The Colonel stops at the border sign because doing anything beyond the sign would lead to major diplomatic embarrassments, and naturally to demotion or worse for him. He certainly can't kill all the witnesses (and has no intention of doing so). This is the same mechanics that explain why the American operative, after being caught in the East by the Colonel's services, is only detained for a spate of days, with no torture nor bad treatment except cold and isolation, and then released. (He carefully avoided engaging in anything like espionage.) These rules were known to all at the time (self included).

In The Tunnel the audience is dragged down to the depths with a group of Germans so desperate to get their loved ones from East Germany in 1961 that they are prepared to dig a tunnel under the infamous Berlin Wall. The tunnel takes a year to dig, is seven metres deep and 145 metres long.

The story of The Tunnel is really the story of Harry Melchior (Heino Ferch), an East German champion swimmer who escapes to the west disguised as a tourist. Before leaving the state which has imprisoned him for four years he promised his sister, Lotte Lohmann (Alexandra Maria Lara) that he would do his best to rescue her from the oppressive regime. Joining him in his noble mission is Matthis Hiller (Sebastian Koch), an engineer with the knowhow if only the rest of the gang will listen to him. He wants to rescue his wife and unborn child. Also on the team is Friederike 'Fritzi' Scholz (Nicolette Krebitz). Her intended is trapped on the other side of the wall, but does she really love him? There is a whole host of other characters who have their own motivations for helping out, but who can be trusted and who is a spy? All the actos put in superb performances, transporting the viewer back to those troubled times. What makes The Tunnel such compelling viewing is not it's high production values and suspenseful story, although it has both in oodles, but the very fact that it is a true story. Directed by Roland Suso Richter and written by Johannes W Betz, The Tunnel is filmed in the original German with English subtitles. But the subject is so enthralling that you soon forget you are having to read each line. While it is three hours long it doesn't even feel it. The Tunnel began its run during the Te Awamutu International Film Festival at The Regent cinema but is to continue showing.

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.

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.