The Tunnel

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The Tunnel

TV-14,

2001,

2h 40m,

Drama

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Watchlist

Watchlist

84%

25 Reviews

Tomatometer

91%

2,500+ Ratings

Popcornmeter

84%

Tomatometer

25 Reviews

91%

Popcornmeter

2,500+ Ratings

East German swimmer Harry Melchior (Heino Ferch) escapes to West Berlin in 1961, but is forced to leave his family behind. When he recruits pals Mathis (Sebastian Koch), Vic (Mehmet Kurtulus) and Fred (Felix Eitner) to help him dig a tunnel under the wall so he can bring his sister, Lotte (Nicolette Krebitz), to freedom, he discovers that countless others are looking for ways to get relatives out of East Berlin. Suddenly, a small tunnel becomes a major engineering undertaking.

Critics Consensus

The Tunnel is both a tension-filled thriller and a riveting history lesson.

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Tom Keogh

Seattle Times

Sep 23, 2005

3.5/4

Richter makes wonderful if obvious use of the wall and the tunnel as built-in metaphors for our struggle for human connection and dread of helplessness and change.

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Kevin Thomas

Los Angeles Times

Sep 15, 2005

4.5/5

It is the kind of superbly crafted, intelligent entertainment -- a classic suspense thriller -- that nowadays is as welcome as it is rare.

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Ella Taylor

L.A. Weekly

Sep 15, 2005

Richter gives a raw, frank but sophisticated account of the excruciating logistics of this great escape, and the appalling, inspiring blend of betrayal and courage that attended the group's herculean efforts.

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Urban Cinefile Critics

Urban Cinefile

Aug 3, 2008

This true story about one of the many tunnel escape attempts under the Berlin wall in the 60s provides all the excitement of an escape movie, given extra depth and resonance by its real life genesis... a superb film

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William Arnold

Seattle Post-Intelligencer

Sep 22, 2005

B-

Well-cast and sporadically gripping.

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Leia L

May 6, 2017

A humanist thriller. Its breathtaking to see how democracy always finds its way. The harder the regime presses you,the more sand trickles out !

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Roland Suso Richter

Director

Heino Ferch

Harry Melchior

Nicolette Krebitz

Friederike "Fritzi" Scholz

Sebastian Koch

Matthis Hiller

Alexandra Maria Lara

Charlotte "Lotte" Lohmann

Claudia Michelsen

Carola Langensiep

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Synopsis

East German swimmer Harry Melchior (Heino Ferch) escapes to West Berlin in 1961, but is forced to leave his family behind. When he recruits pals Mathis (Sebastian Koch), Vic (Mehmet Kurtulus) and Fred (Felix Eitner) to help him dig a tunnel under the wall so he can bring his sister, Lotte (Nicolette Krebitz), to freedom, he discovers that countless others are looking for ways to get relatives out of East Berlin. Suddenly, a small tunnel becomes a major engineering undertaking.

Director: Roland Suso Richter
Producer: Nico Hofmann, Ariane Krampe
Screenwriter: Johannes W. Betz
Production Co: Sat.1, teamWorx Television & Film
Rating: TV-14
Genre: Drama
Original Language: German
Box Office (Gross USA): $10.9K
Runtime: 2h 40m

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