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MOVIES / ON DVD / THE TUNNEL
The Tunnel

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The Tunnel (2005)

83%
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83 %
Reviews Counted: 24 Fresh: 20  Rotten:4 Average Rating: 6.9/10
 
Consensus: The Tunnel is both a tension-filled thriller and a riveting history lesson.
 

How does the Tomatometer work?

The Tomatometer measures the percentage of positive reviews from Approved Tomatometer Critics for a certain movie.[-]

Runtime: 2 hrs 47 mins

Synopsis: Based on incredible true events, THE TUNNEL tells the story of Harry Melchior, a champion East German swimmer at odds with the Communist government under which he has already been imprisoned for his beliefs. Though required to remain in East Germany after his release from prison, Harry... Based on incredible true events, THE TUNNEL tells the story of Harry Melchior, a champion East German swimmer at odds with the Communist government under which he has already been imprisoned for his beliefs. Though required to remain in East Germany after his release from prison, Harry narrowly escapes just as the Berlin Wall is being completed. He successfully flees the oppressive Communist regime, but his beloved sister and her family are unable to join him. Harry is determined to rescue them, and aided by his best friend— engineering genius Matthis Hiller — the idea of the tunnel is born. The project, however, is fraught with complications. Harry and Matthis first rent an abandoned building right next to the Wall, but struggle with the massive logistics and costs of their task. Quickly realizing that it will take years to complete the tunnel on their own, they enlist several helpers, all motivated by the prospect of rescuing their own families and friends. However, with additional helpers comes more risk...for any new member could be a potential traitor. The pacing is brisk and tensions rise as the threat of the tunnel collapsing weighs constantly on the protagonists' minds. They worry that their tunnel could open in the wrong place, or worse, that the brutal East German police will discover their plans for escape. Matters are complicated even further by the arrival of the beautiful 'Fritzi,' whose passionate chemistry with Harry upsets the dynamics of the team. An interesting, factual side note: the NBC television network became involved in this project and actually helped finance the tunnel's construction. The network originally planned a fictional film about tunneling through the wall, then scrapped this idea to record the real heroes as they completed their nine-month long mission. It was broadcast as an NBC White Paper in 1961. -- © Home Vision Entertainment [More]

Genre: Foreign Films

Starring: Heino Ferch, Sebastian Koch, Alexandra Maria Lara, Nicoleete Krebitz, Uwe Kockish

Director: Roland Suso Richter
Screenwriter: Johannes W. Betz
Producer: Ariane Krampe, Nico Hofmann

DVD Info

Release:

Apr 10, 2005

[DVD Details]

DVD Features:

  • Notes: Includes liner notes by Film Critic Maitland McDonagh.
  • Region 1
  • Keep Case
  • Anamorphic Widescreen - 2.35

Audio:

  • Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound - German

Additional Release Material:

  • Making Of Featurette (25 Minutes)
  • Trailer - 1. Theatrical Trailer

Reviews

 
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1 - 20 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
Text View | 1 2 >> >|
Arrange By: Name | Fresh | Rotten | Date | Source
 
 
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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.

Full Review | comment Comment
09/23/05
Tom Keogh
Seattle Times
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B-

Well-cast and sporadically gripping.

Full Review | comment Comment
09/22/05
William Arnold
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
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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.

Full Review | comment Comment
09/15/05
Kevin Thomas
Los Angeles Times
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
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N/A

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.

Full Review | comment Comment
09/15/05
Ella Taylor
L.A. Weekly
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3.5/4

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

Full Review | comment Comment
09/02/05
Michael Booth
Denver Post
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3.5/4

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

Full Review | comment Comment
09/02/05
Ty Burr
Boston Globe
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3/4

The Tunnel proved to be too exciting for mere broadcast

Full Review | comment Comment
09/01/05
Marty Mapes
Movie Habit
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N/A

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

Full Review | comment Comment
08/19/05
Stephen Hunter
Washington Post
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N/A

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

Full Review | comment Comment
08/18/05
Michael O'Sullivan
Washington Post
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3/4

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

Full Review | comment Comment
06/24/05
Marta Barber
Miami Herald
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2.5/4

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

Full Review | comment Comment
06/23/05
Peter Canavese
Groucho Reviews
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3/4

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.

Full Review | comment Comment
06/10/05
Jonathan Curiel
San Francisco Chronicle
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2.5/5

riddled with slow pacing, melodrama and viewer fatigue

Full Review | comment Comment
06/01/05
Jules Brenner
Filmcritic.com
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2.5/4

Director Roland Suso Richter maintains tension for 2 1/2 hours, even though the resolution is almost surreal.

Full Review | comment Comment
04/29/05
Lou Lumenick
New York Post
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3/4

Richter's brisk direction keeps us riveted through the suspenseful finish of his vivid history lesson.

Full Review | comment Comment
04/29/05
Elizabeth Weitzman
New York Daily News
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3/5

Genuinely gripping, balancing the travails of constructing the tunnel against the characters' stories with considerable skill.

Full Review | comment Comment
04/29/05
Maitland McDonagh
TV Guide's Movie Guide
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3/5

Roland Suso Richter's darkly atmospheric film recounts the effort of a group of people to dig a tunnel under the Berlin Wall.

Full Review | comment Comment
04/28/05
Laura Kern
New York Times
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
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N/A

It's distressing to learn how much German television looks like a Jerry Bruckheimer movie.

Full Review | comment Comment
04/26/05
Matt Singer
Village Voice
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3/4

The film picks up steam as the tunnel nears completion -- thanks, in part, to a Hollywood film crew that pays for the rights to the tunnelers' story, providing them with the money to finish the project.

Full Review | comment Comment
04/07/05
Meg Jones
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
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3/5

Though its story is universal enough to leap across cultural boundaries, it's not deep enough to justify the leap to the big screen.

Full Review | comment Comment
11/19/03
Kim Linekin
eye WEEKLY
1 - 20 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
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