Tunnel (2016) is a disaster movie written and directed by Seong-hun Kim (South Korea). The movie follows a salesman on his way home who finds himself trapped when a poorly constructed tunnel collapses and he has to find a way to survive. My Tunnel (2016) movie review follows
The movie is highly claustrophobic. Every little move the man made triggered more debris to fall on him, making it even harder to crawl out. On top of this we have outside characters who know he is alive but are struggling to find a realistic way to dig him out. This makes it even hard as it is hard to pinpoint his actual location.
When the tunnel collapses, things start to get very tense. The man (played by Ha Jung-woo) doesn’t know how to orient himself. He is trapped underground with a slim chance of survival, relying on very little food and water to keep him going. Even with the world learning of his survival, he is still finding it hard to keep a positive attitude.
You get to experience this range of emotions when his wife (played by Doona Bae) gets introduced to the picture. She plays a strong character that acts as a stone to keep everyone from giving up. This also keeps her husband from losing his will to survive, even when everything is telling him that his chances of getting out alive are slim. She gets very emotional fighting with the rescuers who are many times found in a tough situation due to outside forces telling them to act certain way.
The man also goes through a range of human emotion, constantly thinking of his wife, his situation, and of future. His will to survive gets destroyed multiple times as he becomes aware of all the things going against him and his survival. The balance between him and the politicians complicating his rescue is done so well that it makes us question just how much a human life is really worth to those who control the power.
**Minor spoiler ahead** The guy who gets trapped in the tunnel talks to the outside world using his phone. Many people have pointed out that it is unrealistic for him to have a signal trapped so deep in tunnel. They also said his lack of food and water would not be sufficient to last him so long. This didn’t bother me much as the story is focused on human will to survive, not the realism of situation.
At the end, the movie is about survival. It has a ton of heart and even more emotions coming from the two main characters. Movie doesn’t focus on showing gore, but rather the outside’s reaction to a man trapped in what many consider to be a life-threatening situation. It works with this premise by constantly cutting from rescuers to the man under the rumble. This helps us see how they both react to the ever evolving news of their situation.
This is an excellent movie. While I can sit here and debate how accurate it portrays the entire situation, I will not. I was on the edge of my seat the entire time. I was also rooting for all the characters because they are good people. They have enough depth and character development that makes them come off as likeable and relatable. This in turn makes them human.
Thanks for reading my Tunnel (2016) movie review 🙂
