Released in 2001, this film focuses on the danger of using the tunnel to escape East Berlin after the wall is built. We begin by meeting an athlete who knows the wall is about to be built. We see that he does not agree with the government from the beginning and the wall only strengthens that feeling. After the first escapes, the rest of the movie focuses on how to make the tunnel more efficient and successful.
As with other German films, this one is filled with actors we’re likely to see over and over again, though this one has more in common with films less likely to be able to be used in the classroom. Heino Ferch was in Winterschläfer, Lola rennt, and Vom Suchen und Finden der Liebe, among many many others. He may be among the most versatile German actors today. Nicolette Krebitz was in Bandits and der blinde Fleck. Sebastian Koch most recently was in the Danish Girl, although several other films with him are in post-production. We’ve also seen him in Das fliegende Klassenzimmer. And the list of busy actors goes on.
Mehmet Kurtulus is linguistically impressive. He is playing an American. With that, he uses an American accent in German and sometimes throws in English at times. Mehmet Kurtulus was born in East Germany.
Der Tunnel is 2 1/2 hours long, but it explains so much about the dangers of trying to escape, and trying to help people escape. Best of all, it’s a true story. NBC really did video the escape. Updates of the real people are shown before the credits.
There is brief nudity as the American is caught by police. Although it adds to the meaning of the movie, this scene can be skipped or edited. There is a sex scene that could also be skipped or edited relatively easily. Because of this nudity, this film would be rated R in the U.S. were it to be rated, and is rated 16 and up in Germany. Because these scenes are more easily skipped and because of the important history it teaches, I still highly recommend it for classrooms where this is possible, from advanced high school courses through college.