Der Tunnel was created as a two-part television movie in Germany with a runtime of more than three hours. It has been repackaged with English subtitles for the American theatrical market and slightly cut down to two hours 47 minutes. That seems like a long time to be cooped up with a foreign language film, reading subtitles. But the time flies by and after a short time you hardly notice that you are watching a foreign film at all. You are simply caught up in the action of a well-crafted suspenseful drama based on a true story.
For those readers who immediately pooh-pooh the idea of watching a made-for-television movie, I urge you to keep reading. The production quality on this film is excellent and fully up to the standards of any major Western theatrical production. I was amazed when I read afterwards that it had been created for television broadcast.
The action takes place in 1961 and 1962, starting with the shocking overnight construction of the Berlin Wall (which of course was not a wall overnight — it consisted of barbed wire and nervous soldiers watching nervous citizens). A champion East German swimmer, Harry Melchior, is known as a "troublemaker" by the East German police and party leaders. He has spent some time in prison in the past (for taking part in the June Rebellion of 1953) and they want to keep him on a very tight leash, representing the state in his athletic endeavors. He decides to make a break for West Germany, but is unable to take along his devoted and very close sister, Lotte, and her family.
Once in the west, Harry sets about figuring out how to make good on his vow to get Lotte out. He and some cohorts finally decide to tunnel under the wall and sneak their loved ones under the border.
The rest of the film chronicles the construction of the tunnel, a gradually building love interest for Harry, and the unrelenting attention of the Director For Illegal Emigration — a state functionary who is fixated on making sure that Harry's loved ones don't foil him with another escape attempt.
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