Der Tunnel
Encyclopedia
Der Tunnel is a made-for-television German film released in 2001 and loosely based on true events in Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...

 following
the closing of the East German border in August 1961 and the subsequent construction of the Berlin Wall
Berlin Wall
The Berlin Wall was a barrier constructed by the German Democratic Republic starting on 13 August 1961, that completely cut off West Berlin from surrounding East Germany and from East Berlin...

.
Roland Suso Richter
Roland Suso Richter
Roland Suso Richter is a German film director and producer.He also worked as a screenwriter and actor before settling for directing.- Biography :...

 directed the film. The theatrical release is 20 minutes shorter than the original television version. The subtitled English version was not available until 2005.

Plot

The central character of the film is Harry Melchior, played by Heino Ferch
Heino Ferch
Heino Ferch is an award-winning German film and television actor.-Life:The son of a cargo vessel skipper, he was on stage for the first time in his life at the age of 15, while he was still attending grammar school...

 and based on the real tunneler, Hasso Herschel.
Despite being imprisoned for several years for his role in the June 1953 uprising in East Germany
Uprising of 1953 in East Germany
The Uprising of 1953 in East Germany started with a strike by East Berlin construction workers on June 16. It turned into a widespread anti-Stalinist uprising against the German Democratic Republic government the next day....

,
Melchior competes for and wins the national swimming championship in 1961. With the aid of a false passport and disguise, Harry
succeeds in fleeing to West Berlin. His best friend, Matthis (played by Sebastian Koch
Sebastian Koch
-Life and career:Koch was born in Karlsruhe and grew up in Stuttgart. His mother raised him alone, and he spent some time in the children's home where she worked...

) manages to escape through the
underground sewer, but Matthis's pregnant wife Carola (played by Claudia Michelsen) was not so lucky and remained in East Berlin.
Harry's beloved sister, Lotte (played by Alexandra Maria Lara
Alexandra Maria Lara
Alexandra Maria Lara is a Romanian-born German actress. She performs predominantly in leading roles in a variety of historical and crime films...

) and her husband and daughter are ambivalent about leaving the
confines of the GDR.

Committed to getting their loved ones out of the GDR but knowing that ground routes are heavily guarded, Harry and Matthis
have the idea of going underground. Matthis is an engineer by training. They link up with a small circle of others, initially
Vittorio 'Vic' Constanza (played by Mehmet Kurtulus
Mehmet Kurtulus
Mehmet Kurtuluş is a German actor of Turkish descent. He is best known for his work with German director Fatih Akin.-Biography:...

) and Fred van Klausnitz (played by Felix Eitner). They find an
unused factory building close to the Wall that has ample underground space. They are eventually joined by Fritzi Scholz
(played by Nicolette Krebitz
Nicolette Krebitz
Nicolette Krebitz is a director, actress, model and singer. She is often credited as "Coco" in her creative works.-Life and work:Nicolette Krebitz made her film debut at age eleven...

), whose fiancé Heiner (Florian Panzner) is also trapped in the east.

The work is slow, hard and sometimes dangerous, and the group reluctantly agrees to take in several more helpers. Over a span of
months, the tunnel takes shape following Matthis' design with the necessary shoring, lights and even a railbed. Discovering a film
crew from NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...

 in the city one day, the leaders convince the network to fund their efforts in exchange for exclusive footage of the
digging and eventual escape.

In the meantime, communication with the would-be rescuees in the east is necessary but hazardous. Vic, an American citizen, can pass through
the border freely. He is in contact with Lotte and with Carola. The latter, however, has been blackmailed by the Stasi
Stasi
The Ministry for State Security The Ministry for State Security The Ministry for State Security (German: Ministerium für Staatssicherheit (MfS), commonly known as the Stasi (abbreviation , literally State Security), was the official state security service of East Germany. The MfS was headquartered...

 to
inform; if she does not cooperate, the state will take her soon-to-be-born baby. Carola informs on Vic and he is detained when
trying to cross back to West Berlin. He is released after a while but cannot go back to the east. Fritzi's love, Heiner, makes a
futile attempt to cross the barb-wire and walls, but is shot by the border police (Grepos) and left to die in a scene
mirroring the true case of Peter Fechter
Peter Fechter
Peter Fechter was a German bricklayer from Berlin in what became East Germany in 1945. He was aged just 18, one of the first victims of the Berlin Wall's border guards while trying to cross over to what was then West Berlin.-Background:After World War II, Germany was governed jointly by an Allied...

.

Overseeing the efforts to thwart tunnelers and other efforts at "illegal emigration" is Colonel Krüger (played by Uwe Kockisch).

Finally the pieces are all in place for the planned escape of about 30 people. Word is spread by surreptitious means, though
the Stasi are watching closely. They go to the home of Fred's widowed mother to take her into custody, but she takes her own life first.
Carola has admitted to Lotte that she has been an informant but swears she can now be trusted. In a ruse that means leaving
her baby with Lotte's family, she leads her Stasi tail to a remote location far from the actual escape site. Fritzi has crossed
the border with a fake passport and Harry has entered through the tunnel. Surprising a border guard, Harry takes his uniform,
steel helmet and gun, and blends into the troops swarming through the area. The would-be escapees gather in a café across from the
building where the tunnel ends, and Fritzi gradually escorts them over. Tense moments ensue as Colonel Krüger closes in, and
pursues the escapees through the tunnel. A sign has been erected marking the boundary of the French sector of West Berlin, and
they have the political sense to know they can go no further.

Awards

  • Winner of the 2001 Bavarian TV Award
    Bayerischer Fernsehpreis
    Bayerischer Fernsehpreis is an award presented by the government of Bavaria, Germany since 1989.- 2010 :* Nina Gummich, Nachwuchsförderpreis * Klaus Doldinger, Bavarian Prime Minister's Prize- 2009 :...

     (Heino Ferch
    Heino Ferch
    Heino Ferch is an award-winning German film and television actor.-Life:The son of a cargo vessel skipper, he was on stage for the first time in his life at the age of 15, while he was still attending grammar school...

     and Roland Suso Richter
    Roland Suso Richter
    Roland Suso Richter is a German film director and producer.He also worked as a screenwriter and actor before settling for directing.- Biography :...

    )
  • Winner of the 2001 German Television Award (best TV film/mini-series)
  • Heino Ferch was awarded the Golden Camera in 2002
The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
x
OK