The Tunnel: Another Great Escape

Reviewer: James van Maanen
Rating (out of 5): ****

Movie-watchers looking for an old-fashioned but absolutely riveting piece of fictionalized history could do no better than The Tunnel. Yes, it lasts two hours and 47 minutes, but I wager, once you've begun, you will savor every one of those minutes--particularly the final hour which builds an accumulative suspense that is breathtaking. Director Roland Suso Richter (he made a so-so The I Inside here in America after the success of this German film) may be no knock-out stylist, but everything he does is in service to the tale at hand. He draws fine performances from his cast (one of his actors, Sebastian Koch, starred in last year's Best Foreign Film The Lives of Others), and the look of the film is wonderful: in period, while using all of today's movie technology to create that period.

Originally made in episodes for German television, this shortened version manages to compress events surprisingly well. The Tunnel is a throwback in the sense that it offers a great story (escape from East Berlin during and just after the construction of the infamous Berlin Wall) replete with love, death, birth, sacrifice, betrayal and hair-breath escapes. The characters are specific and interesting enough that the clichés present pass nearly unnoticed, thanks to the intensity of the narrative. While it may appeal more to European audiences whose knowledge of that history will be more immediate and meaningful, The Tunnel should nonetheless grab and hold Americans viewers, too. Both intimate and epic, the film is a hugely enjoyable work--intelligent, moving and righteous.

Additional note: I had occasion to watch the movie a second time, and admit to finding it less riveting on repeat viewing, probably because there were then no surprises. But as I recall, The Great Escape lost me the second time around, too. Perhaps films like these are best viewed once--and appreciated via memory. But, oh, that first time...