Movie Review: Night Crossing

It’s 1978 in East Germany. All you’ve known is life under a communist regime. You’ve got a lovely family, a good job, and a likely stable (but bleak) future—if you don’t question the status quo. You’ve heard that across the border there is something East Germany has little of: freedom. Legal emigration is rarely allowed—illegal emigration…that hasn’t worked out very well for those who’ve tried it. But you want something better for your family—you want your family (especially your children) to be free. You and a buddy have a hare-brained idea about how to get out, how to escape the bleak, suffocating environs of the East, and breathe the sweet free air of the West. Success will change your family’s future forever, for the good. Failure could result in imprisonment, maybe even death. Will you take the risk?

That’s the question two young fathers and their families grapple to answer in the film Night Crossing. This cinematic gem of the 1980s tells the true story of the Wetzel and Strelzyk families’ daring and ingenious attempt to escape East Germany via a homemade hot air balloon. Filmed just a few years after the events it depicts, this historical thriller kept Mikaela and me on the edge of our seats from start to finish.  What shocked us the most about this story is that its events took place just barely outside our generation: the world of Night Crossing existed not so long ago, and for some parts of the world, it still does.

Written by veteran storyteller John McGreevey (Lassie, The Waltons), produced by Disney, and distributed by Buena Vista, Night Crossing carries big credentials, but lesser-known stars. John Hurt and Beau Bridges portray Peter Strelzyk and Gunther Wetzel, two everyday dads who want something better for their young families than what the Socialist Unity Party’s government can offer. The two team up to engineer, build and co-pilot a hot air balloon, with their families in tow, out of East Germany. The film follows their agonizing decision to escape, their secret preparations for departure, and their nail-biting attempt to flee airborne to the West.  From what I have read of the actual account (as documented by Gunther Wetzel himself), the film accurately captures the main components of this incredible story.

Despite the fact that the lead cast includes no German actors, each character is believable and director Delbert Mann (this was his final film) masterfully immerses his audience into the Wetzel and Strelzyks' circumstances. Despite some disturbing (but tastefully rendered) violence in the opening minutes, and brief language throughout, the film remains family-friendly from start to finish. Legendary film-composer Jerry Goldsmith’s score adds a wonderful finishing touch to a captivating movie. 

Besides telling a remarkable true story, Night Crossing illustrates that creativity and determination can go a long way to accomplishing a goal, especially when combined with familial and neighborly love (and a good dose of desperation). Night Crossing also reminds audiences that the gift of freedom is precious, and that to obtain it requires great sacrifice as well as great risk.

Night Crossing is available on hoopla and Amazon Prime.

Photo is courtesy of Mark Hughes in creative commons.