REVIEW
THE TUNNEL
Starring Heino Ferch, Alexandra Mara Lara and Sebastian Koch
Directed by Roland Suso Richter
Opens Friday, April 4
Globe Cinema
Riveting, passionate and realistic, The Tunnel takes an emotionally charged snapshot of a group of Germans compelled to risk everything in order to illegally cross the line separating East and West Berlin. Near perfect in its ability to tell a story, the film focuses on people determined to find hope during a dark time in German history.
The abstracts of German politics took a concrete form in 1961, when Eastern communism and Western democracy were separated by a great slab of cement dividing Berlin. Reinforced with miles of barbed wire and hundreds of guards ordered to shoot to kill, the wall served as a foreboding reminder of the ideological turmoil surrounding occupied Germany. Director Roland Suso Richter strays from this obvious political context for a theme that explores what the wall truly caused – separation of the people.
Based on a mixture of events and adaptations from past versions of the same true story, The Tunnel tells the tale of 29 East Berliners who, in 1962, attempted to escape to the West by using a tunnel built by friends, family and compassionate strangers in West Berlin. The plan is simple: dig. During the 150-metre mud toss towards freedom, the film centres on the husbands, wives, brothers and sisters forced to live in a world determined to tear them apart.
Character growth is absent but, oddly, this works to the film’s advantage. Each of the central characters portrays varying aspects of the East German citizenry during this time of Soviet-sponsored isolation. Harry Melchior (Heino Ferch) is the proud professional athlete who refuses to serve as a political tool. Fred von Klausnitz (Felix Eitner) is the factory technician compelled to naively betray his wife after he’s promised a promotion. Carola Hiller (Claudia Michelsen) is the mother pushed towards depression as she is forced to place her faith in the nation before her love for her husband.
Each character’s story plays out separately but simultaneously in a webbed entanglement of contrasting family responsibilities and political demands, while the continued efforts to build the tunnel bring everyone to the brink of capture. The characters’ motives remain static, but they are no less real or likeable.
The Tunnel isn’t preachy and it doesn’t make sweeping generalizations – instead, it asks us merely to look at the lives of the people influenced by the Berlin Wall. There are no heroes and no villains. Each character is written and performed with understanding – from the confused and disturbed East German guard forced to shoot and kill a fellow citizen, to the head of the Soviet Investigation Committee who is determined to bribe and blackmail East Germans because he truly, agonizingly believes that Germany will be better through communism.
Winner of several international awards, The Tunnel is not only an important film, it is also intriguing and entertaining. Ultimately, the film’s subject is hope, as each character attempts to remain strong, determined and true – to themselves and to one another. |
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