Please Rent This Movie

Fresh on the heels of wasting almost three hours of my mortal coil watching that pile of dog vomit otherwise known as "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button," there is this film. "The Tunnel." Or "Der Tunnel" for those of you sauerbraten lovers in the audience. It is as long as the Brad Pitt mess. But, while that film lasted for what seemed like six days, "The Tunnel" is perhaps the fastest three hours you will ever see on any screen. At the end, I looked at the clock and channeled Peggy Lee. Is that all there is?

Frankly, I had not known a single thing about "The Tunnel." I don't remember it coming out, but, apparently, it did sometime in 2001. Since it didn't get nominated for Best Foreign Film in the Oscar race, the movie probably get much attention from the snotty American film critics. I literally stumbled on it during a Netflix surf. I was looking for another foreign film and saw this depiction of Germany during the period when the Berlin Wall first went up. And the viewer reviews on Netflix were nothing short of heavenly praise. I put it in my queue.

Almost as divine intervention, "The Tunnel" arrived in my mailbox the day after my corneas had been roasted by the blinding shallowness of Benjamin Button. It was as if God was stepping in to say, "Len, yes, movies can be exhilerating."

"The Tunnel" just might be the best movie I have seen in the last five years. It was absolutely fascinating. Based on the ubiquitous true story, "The Tunnel" captures Berlin in 1961. The West-East divide is happening and the bricks, later to be torn down by Mr. Gorbachev upon President Reagan's request, are just getting plastered together. People from the East are desperate to get to the West and now. One does. This championship swimmer, Harry Melchior, gets there early, but is forced to leave his sister and her daughter on the other side. Of course, he wants to pull her across later. How? Well, look at the title. You build a tunnel. Supposedly, there were dozens of tunnels built under the wall during its tenure in Berlin. Some were successful. Others were not. And Harry, along with a motley crew of helpers, goes about digging one.

As "The Tunnel" unfolds, you are mesmerized by the story, the depth of the characters, and the pin-dropping excitement of the last hour. There is not a single wasted frame of screen time. And nary a special effect to be found. I was sure to see either Billy Wilder or William Wyler's name as director. Nope, it's some German guy with a name that sounds like it would go great with some red cabbage.

For this movie fan disillusioned by the dreck in our multiplexes right now, "The Tunnel" picked me up, dusted me off, and started me all over again. Grab your shovel and get it this weekend.

Dinner last night: Honey ham sandwich on French roll.