Night Crossing

“The East German border: 836 miles of barbed-wire walls, automated machine guns, armed guards, and deadly land mines. On September 15, 1979 two families tried to cross it.”

Peter Strelzyk (John Hurt) wants out of East Germany, but not without his wife and children, and he finds the one man willing to risk the same. Guenter Wetzel (Beau Bridges) and his family live under the same rule, and both households agree to leave in a homemade hot-air balloon. Delbert Mann tells the true story of 1979 through the two families, and what holds them together is how far each will trust the other's word.