5/5 Moving, fast-paced Cold War suspense
  by Erik Gfesser (Lombard, IL United States)
Recently watched by this reviewer for the first time following the movie "As Far as My Feet Will Carry Me" (see my review), the setting of which predates the true events of this movie by a dozen years or so, "Der Tunnel" looks at life during the Cold War from the perspective of families caught behind the newly-built Berlin Wall. Main character Harry Melchior (whose last name is interestingly enough the same as one of the three wise men of Christmas tradition), based on the real tunneler Hasso Herschel, the 1961 German swimming champ, flees East Berlin with the help of friends soon after the preliminary version of the Berlin Wall is set into place. Throughout the film (which is almost 3-hours in length), the building of the Berlin Wall serves as a backdrop, and this reviewer lamented as Harry is convinced that the wall is just a rumor upon hearing that it is going to be built, just a day before its initial construction. On a promise to his sister that he will return to free her, Harry spends the rest of the movie's duration to build a tunnel with the aid of a team led by an engineer friend from the basement of an abandoned building on the west side of the wall to another building on the east. Especially moving are the subplots in this film, which include the following of those who attempt but fail to escape to the West, those who unwillingly serve as informants to the Stasi, the secret police of East Germany, those led astray by the false promises of the newly established governing powers, and those willing to risk their lives freeing their loved ones from the clutches of Socialism. Extremely fast-paced with never a dull moment, the need to read the English subtitles was hardly noticed after the initial scenes of this German film.

5/5 Incredible movie...
  by C. A. Temm (Salem, AL United States)
The Cold War history of Germany continues to rise through the political smoke screens and fears of two generations. Films like this celebrate the normal people who won those small but important victories that sapped the Communist state. After all, it was not just Western military determination and the Communist economic stupidity that doomed the East but the determination of normal people to escape or go around the rules of that society.

This film is one of those must sees for anyone wanting to learn of anguish of Germany from 1945 to the 1989. A German man tries to reunite his family who are trapped on the other side of the Wall after he escapes. He finally decides to dig a tunnel from the French sector hundreds of yards into East Germany and bring her and others out. The movie follows the months of digging, planning,the parallel hunt by the Stasi, financial & engineering problems to the edge of the seat ending.

One thing I found truly amazing was the US media involvement. A US network found out and offered to help finance the digging while keeping it secret from all but a handful of their own. It's hard to believe sometimes that the media once used to have that capability of honor.

A good movie and one that had us looking for the site when in Berlin. We had no luck but it was still fun hunting!

4/5 Library copy
  by SD (UT)
Good product. Online didn't see it was a library copy. Invoice indicated library copy had been listed among the comments. Library copy should be first comment listed.

5/5 Incredible
  by J. Dykstra (Roswell, NM)
As others have pointed out, this is one of a number of excellent German films. I won't recount the plot as a number have covered it in the reviews. In addition to the suspense of the story itself, I think the really interesting part of this movie are some of the other little details and trivia that you get to see such as the Stasi and their techniques, all of the little human dramas surrounding the division of Berlin, some facts about daily life in the GDR and life for people who had family on both sides and many other things that add to the film. I've read some books on this topic, and it seems as though this movie is based on a real story but also combines elements of other well-known stories that happened around the same same time. A lot of people with memory of the wall or an acquaintence with the history of it probably have a picture of the wall as it was in the 1980s in their minds, but the situation in 1961 when the wall first went up was different in some ways. In any case, even though this movie is long, it is very enjoyable and makes you want to know what will happen next. I would recommend seeing this movie first and then watching The Lives of Others to get a taste of the other end of the wall's history. Do yourself a favor and buy this movie. You won't regret it.

4/5 3 stars out of 4
  by One-Line Film Reviews (Easton, MD)
The Bottom Line:

A solidly-made story of tunnels to freedom under the Berlin Wall, The Tunnel is probably a bit too long but it has good production values and some of Germany's top actors in a consistently-interesting, if not always engaging story.