Der Tunnel is a 2001 film by German director Roland Suso Richter that is loosely based on a true story about an expanding group of people who dug a tunnel in Berlin in the early 1960's to get friends and family from the East Germany to West Germany. Dozens of such tunnels have been dug, but this one became known because, in order to get financial support, the group decided to let US broadcasting company NBC film them for a documentary 2001: A Space Odyssey. ... The German Democratic Republic (GDR) (German: Deutsche Demokratische Republik), also commonly known as East Germany, was a communist state that existed from 1949 to 1990 in the former Soviet occupation zone of Germany. ... The National Broadcasting Company or NBC is an American television broadcasting company based in New York Citys Rockefeller Center. ...

The film takes some liberties for dramatic effect, especially in the end with a shoot-out that did not take place. Also, the first person who discovered the activity and ultimately joined in was a man, not a woman and was held captive (tied up) for much longer and mistrusted by some until the end. When the tunnel was nearing completion it started filling with water and at the end, during the flight, the tunnel was almost impossible to get through. And an improbability is that, while the refugees were being followed by the Stasi, when they reached the sign that said "You are entering the French zone", the Stasi actually stopped. This article is about Stasi, the secret police of East Germany. ...

There is also a documentary about the escape which is much more true to the real events.