La grande illusion / Grand Illusion > Dir. Jean Renoir > 1937 > France
{CLASS!C QU!CK!E}
Why you should watch this film:
Jean Renoir is one of the greatest directors ever.
It is spine # 1 of the Criterion Collection.
This film was hunted down and nearly exterminated by Hitler.
The cast (Gabin, von Stroheim, Fresnay, Carette) is brilliant.
This Film looks amazing in the Criterion Collection. The war film, however, has come a long way since 1937 and so has war. For its time and place, Grand Illusion has no equal as an anti-war film. So many excellent anti-war films have been made since, however that a war film without any scenes of battle is a hard sell. This may be the only anti-war film to actually do so, choosing instead to focus on the interactions between a group of French POWs and their German captors. There are three acts to the film.
Act 1: Two French officers are captured and adjust to life in a prisoner of war camp.
Act 2: The French officers are transferred to another POW camp and plan their escape.
Act 3: The escaped soldiers rehabilitate at the country house of a German widow and her daughter.
The film begins as a slightly dark comedy of manners but descends into a serious discourse of social difference (race, class, nationality) and the tolls of war.
The film has been beautifully restored but some of the scenes end with a quick, unstylish cut. While the film is mostly set within the confines of prison walls, the settings are generally uninteresting. These are both minor quibbles because the film holds up remarkably well.
Grand Illusion has brilliant performances and unforgettable characters. This film is an essential masterpiece from a master director who set the standard for the anti-war genre.
Grade for the casual film junkie: C+
Grade for the Cinephile: A
F!NAL RUL!NG: {81} out of 100
Other Rulings:
imdb.com (the masses) > 8.0
rottentomatoes.com (the critics) > 97%
Until again,
R:T:M_B!GG!TY
COM!NG SOON > Another review!
