Lumsdal Good , But It Is Overrated By Some

Konterr Brilliant and touching

Salubfoto It's an amazing and heartbreaking story.

Brainsbell The story-telling is good with flashbacks.The film is both funny and heartbreaking. You smile in a scene and get a soulcrushing revelation in the next.

simondclinch-1 There have been earlier films about tunnels under the Berlin wall, but this is by far the best. It traces the story from the building of the wall and is fact-based.This film is best watched with subtitles, because listening to the dialogue in German affords a complete suspension of disbelief. I felt as if I was actually there!The plot is deliciously unpredictable and the characters exceptionally well developed.Also the length is generous but justified by the fullness of the plot.Moreover, the plot, while lengthy, doesn't contain much distraction, so that suspense builds up from beginning to end.

Exiled_Archangel Just finished watching this movie half an hour ago.. Couldn't write the review earlier, because I was busy crying my eyes out. I know I've said this before, but I really think this must be the best movie ever. I hardly ever get THAT sentimental for movies, but this one is really something. The story is captivating, the screenplay is flawless such that this movie never gets boring for a second in its enormous length of 167 minutes, and the acting deserves an applause. There is something I particularly like in movies: Having more than one genre without screwing up anything. Here you go.. This is anything from suspense to drama, adventure to romance.. Yet it doesn't lose its magic in any of the fields. I was particularly impressed by the performances of the main character, his sister's husband, and Mehmet Kurtulus who plays Vittorio Castanza (no, not because he's my fellow countryman), and the beardy detective guy of the state security of East Germany. I don't mean to diss any nation or commune specifically, but such a good movie can only be made with such a good and TRUE story. I'm glad I wasn't born in East Germany! On the other hand, it surely is among the finer things in life to partake in such a team play and for such a good reason. These heroes will always be remembered, and the feeling when they made it to West Berlin was probably priceless. Who wouldn't want to experience such?*** SPOILERS ***As in most films with the dense feeling of suspense throughout, this one also delivers textual comments of what happened to the characters after the last frame the film includes. To be honest, reading those got to me big time. It was so very sad to learn Fritzi and Harry didn't stay together. I guess I would pretty much lose the meaning of my life if I was Harry and lost the woman I shared so much with. And Fred putting in so much effort to move to West Germany (although he's actually West German) and then leaving it in 1964. Not as dreadful as the above one, but still sad. Funny but true, I was already planning a trip to Montreal, and if I go, I'll certainly try to find him and listen to his experiences. Last but not least, it's abysmal that Vittorio put even more effort than anyone else into the liberation process, and within a nation he doesn't even belong to, and didn't live long enough to witness the utmost success of his deeds when the Berlin was brought down. I think all these people are holy, and it would be nice of the German government to give their names to schools or streets.*** END OF SPOILERS ***All in all, this movie is absolutely fantastic, and whilst one is supposed to respect others' opinions, I believe an opinion saying this movie was bad simply doesn't deserve a trace of respect. A perfect 10/10 for this masterpiece!

Angus T. Cat It's very interesting to compare 'Der Tunnel' with 'Tunnel 28', or 'Escape from East Berlin', which was filmed in 1962. Both are based on a tunnel that was built in May 1962 from a street in West Berlin and ended in a basement in a house in East Berlin. As in 'Der Tunnel', the actual tunnel was built by a group of students, some who wanted to help their families and loved ones escape, some who wanted to help because of their convictions.'Der Tunnel' is very well acted, especially by Heino Ferch. Ferch's performance as the swimming champion and former prisoner Harry Melchoir is outstanding. Claudia Michelsen turns in a finely nuanced performance as Carola, who is intimidated into informing the East German police about the escape attempt. Sebastian Koch is moving as her husband, who serves as the engineer behind the project, and Mehmet Kurtulus is compelling as Vic, the Italian American who is detained and interrogated as a consequence of Carola's betrayal. The film shows the streets where the actual tunnel was built (they are probably sets but they depict them accurately, as they must have looked just after the Wall was built). It also reflects the involvement of a NBC film crew. The actual tunnel's building was financed by NBC in exchange for rights to exclusive footage of the students working on its construction and footage of refugees escaping. I've always wanted to see this documentary but I've never found a copy of it. Some of the NBC footage is featured in a recent German documentary 'Der Tunnel - Die Wahre Geschichte' that interviews the builders. While filming this documentary researchers found remains of the tunnel that they dug. 'Escape from East Berlin' only resembles the actual escape in the way that it shows 28 people fleeing from a tunnel: it portrays a family deciding to dig a tunnel from the East Berlin side to the West. 'Der Tunnel' depicts the students, the financing by NBC, and the danger to the tunnel caused by a burst pipe. (The real tunnel builders hoped to continue using the tunnel but the night after 28 people escaped it was flooded by a burst pipe. I've read that some East Berliners hoped to reuse this tunnel during the following winter, after the water froze, but I don't know if this is true. Several people were told about it and when they came to find the tunnel's entrance they were arrested by the East German police.)I didn't mind that the script of 'Der Tunnel' centres on a swimming champion who becomes the focal point of the tunnel building. Harry's conflicts dramatise the situations that many people found themselves in at the time: agonising over the separation from their families. The other characters also show the difficult situations and choices facing Berliners on both sides of the Wall. The scene in which Fritizi's fiancé dies attempting to cross the Wall is heart wrenching: it reflects the tragedy of Peter Fetcher, who was shot while trying to escape and left to bleed to death. The sex scene between Harry and Fritzi is moving, not gratuitous. And yet certain elements of the film still struck me as sensationalist. One in particular is Fritizi returning to dig the tunnel so soon after her suicide attempt. I couldn't see someone doing hard physical work or being trusted to act as a courier in such demanding circumstances so soon after slashing her wrists. The colonel chasing the refugees and Harry and Fritizi though the Tunnel and stopping at the border, as possible as it might have been according to international protocol in 1962, just rang false. And was it really necessary to have Harry dress up as a border guard and drive a army vehicle back to the border area without being suspected once?As much as the 1962 film changed the story it showed the desperation and hope of many Berliners without lecturing on the horrors of Communism. Der Tunnel faithfully depicts the period, and the experiences of the people, and yet- I would have liked less of the Hollywooding of the script. It's ironic that Der Tunnel shows Vic encountering the set of 'Tunnel 28' and remarking how he has always wanted to go to Hollywood and be a scriptwriter. The movie shows the overeager hand of an aspiring scriptwriter. A little restraint at the drafting stage would have made 'Der Tunnel' an even more powerful film, and a more fitting tribute to the students who helped East Berliners find their way to freedom from oppression.

a.kohout 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.