This is underrated. It works best not as a historical document (though the movie does present an interesting look), but more as a purely entertaining and fun escape flick. A lot of that is thanks to the direction, Richter builds the suspense very well and uses things like the claustrophobia of the tunnel and the wall itself very well. In particular the last 40 minutes is ridiculously exciting and riveting, and for that reason the 2 hour 40 minute run time doesn't hurt it, as once it starts getting into the 2 hour+ fat that would normally drag the film down, it hits such an exhilarating pace that the last forty flys by.

Heino Ferch and Nicolette Krebitz are fairly charasmatic in the lead roles, as are most of the supporting characters... this is probably the weakest of the 3 Sebastian Koch performances I've randomly seen in the last year, though he's solid enough. The characters are all pretty charming and likeable, which is all you ask for in a movie.

There's some holes like Henry walking around too easily in a soldiers' costume, and a certain character's fiancee doing something really stupid (won't spoil), but as a whole, the film gets by it.

I would recommend this to anyone looking for entertainment for entertainment's sake, it's just a fun, intense ride. Not that the movie isn't well made and acted and pretty interesting regardless, but yeah. Definitley a big surprise.

4/5