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The Tunnel (Der Tunnel) (2001)

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All Critics
Top Critics

Average Rating: 6.9/10
Reviews Counted: 25
Fresh: 21 | Rotten: 4

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

Average Rating: 6.9/10
Critic Reviews: 12
Fresh: 10 | Rotten: 2

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

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Average Rating: 4/5
User Ratings: 2,781

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Movie Info

The true story of Hasso Herschel inspired this epic Cold War drama from Germany. Harry Melchoir (Heino Ferch) was a respected German athlete when the Berlin Wall forcibly divided the nation in 1961. Unwilling to cooperate with the East German authorities, Melchoir escaped to West Berlin, along with his friends Matthis (Sebastian Koch), Vic (Mehmet Kurtulus), and Fred (Felix Eitner). When he fled to West Germany, Melchoir was forced to leave his family behind, and he fears for the fate of his

Unrated, 2 hr. 40 min.

Art House & International, Drama

Directed By: Roland Suso Richter

Written By: Johannes W. Betz

In Theaters: Jan 1, 2001 Wide

On DVD: Oct 4, 2005

Home Vision Entertainment

The Tunnel (Der Tunnel) Trailer & Photos

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Cast

Heino Ferch
Harry Melchior
Nicolette Krebitz
Friederike 'Fritzi' Sch...
Sebastian Koch
Matthis Hiller
Alexandra Maria Lara
Lotte Lohamann
Claudia Michelsen
Carola Hiller
Felix Eitner
Fred von Klausnitz
Mehmet Kurtulus
Vic
Karin Baal
Marianne von Krausnitz
Florian Panzner
Heiner
Heinrich Schmieder
Theo Lohmann

Critic Reviews for The Tunnel (Der Tunnel)

All Critics (29) | Top Critics (13) | Fresh (21) | Rotten (4) | DVD (3)

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

September 15, 2005 Full Review Source: Los Angeles Times

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Kevin Thomas

Los Angeles Times

Top Critic

A true story few people will know, and it's told with a warm, crafty efficiency that makes for wonderful entertainment.

September 2, 2005 Full Review Source: Denver Post

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Michael Booth

Denver Post

Top Critic

It's a gripping great-escape yarn of the sort we don't see much anymore.

September 2, 2005 Full Review Source: Boston Globe

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Ty Burr

Boston Globe

Top Critic

Either as history at its most inspiring or moviemaking at its most exciting, The Tunnel is a trip.

August 19, 2005 Full Review Source: Washington Post

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Stephen Hunter

Washington Post

Top Critic

It's so well told that you'll be biting your nails until the film's final few minutes.

August 18, 2005 Full Review Source: Washington Post

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Michael O'Sullivan

Washington Post

Top Critic

Based on a true story from the late 1950s, this thrilling drama looks at the extraordinary lengths taken by a group of West Berliners to dig a tunnel under the city's barbed-wire border with East Berlin.

June 10, 2005 Full Review Source: San Francisco Chronicle

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Jonathan Curiel

San Francisco Chronicle

Top Critic

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

August 3, 2008 Full Review Source: Urban Cinefile

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Urban Cinefile Critics

Urban Cinefile

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.

September 23, 2005 Full Review Source: Seattle Times

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Tom Keogh

Seattle Times

Well-cast and sporadically gripping.

September 22, 2005 Full Review Source: Seattle Post-Intelligencer

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William Arnold

Seattle Post-Intelligencer

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.

September 15, 2005 Full Review Source: L.A. Weekly

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Ella Taylor

L.A. Weekly

The Tunnel proved to be too exciting for mere broadcast

September 1, 2005 Full Review Source: Movie Habit

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Marty Mapes

Movie Habit

There are few moments when you're not totally absorbed by the film.

June 24, 2005 Full Review Source: Miami Herald

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Marta Barber

Miami Herald

Overlong and a bit overcooked...but it's also properly grueling.

June 23, 2005 Comment

Peter Canavese

Groucho Reviews Source: Groucho Reviews

riddled with slow pacing, melodrama and viewer fatigue

June 1, 2005 Full Review Source: Filmcritic.com

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Jules Brenner

Filmcritic.com

More Critic Reviews

Audience Reviews for The Tunnel (Der Tunnel)

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Based on true events. A gripping drama about a group of people in the early '60s who try to break out their loved ones living in communist East Berlin..by digging a 145 meter tunnel under the Berlin Wall. I enjoyed this film so much that it didn't feel even close to being 2 hours and 47 minutes long. Very tense, and dramatic.

September 5, 2010

Cynthia S.

Super Reviewer

Based on true events, this movie uses loads of general rules of fictionalization. While that surely made it look somewhat unauthentic, nevertheless, it also helped to keep me hooked to the movie. The project was almost always on the brink of destruction, but they manage to escape somehow. The story was nicely weaved,

February 14, 2011