Summary
1916, during World War I. Lieutenant Maréchal and Capitaine de Boeldieu are
two combat pilots who are shot down by the Germans. They are taken to a prisoner
of war camp where they strike up a friendship with Lieutenant Rosenthal, a wealthy Jew
who shares lavish food parcels sent by his family with his fellow prisoners. The
three men help with digging a tunnel in a bid to escape from their prison, but they are
transferred to another camp before they can finish the task. After numerous further
foiled escape attempts, the three men are reuinited at a remote German fortress which
now serves as a high security prison. The prison is overseen by a German aristocrat,
Capitaine von Rauffenstein, who has been invalided out of the war. Von Rauffenstein fraternises
with de Boeldieu, since they share a common social background. Although the fortress
has a reputation for being escape-proof, Maréchal and Rosenthal are determined
to escape...
Review
One of the undisputed masterpieces of cinema history, La Grande illusion is a film
of enduring popularity and one of the most powerful anti-war films of the Twentieth century.
It stands beside Jean Renoir’s other triumph, La Regle du jeu, as one of the all-time
great French films.
The film tackles the anti-war theme from a very subtle angle, which could explain
its profound impact. The film shows that social divisions and prejudices create
far stronger barriers between people than apparently more concrete barriers of nationality,
race or language. The most touching instance of this is where a German soldier gives
the imprisoned Maréchal his mouth organ – a small gesture but a powerful symbol
of their common place in society. The strong association between von Rauffenstein
and de Boeldieu is less attractive to watch but still reinforces the point. You
might even think that the two men were brothers, such is the strength of the social ties
which bind them. The final part of the film, where Maréchal forms an amorous
attachment with a lonely German farm woman, is no less effective at revealing how human
beings can surmount the language barrier.
Renoir had himself served in the First World War and had emerged as a committed pacifist.
The film does not, like many anti-war films, belittle the concept of war, but, rather,
challenges its necessity. What does war change if the barriers which divide social
classes remain immutably intact? Is it simply a game for the idle rich to justify
their existence (a point which is directly alluded to in the film: for an ordinary man,
to die in battle is a tragedy; for an aristocrat it is a solution).
Renoir was clearly deeply involved in this film which shows the director as his
most precise and eloquent. Even the uniform which Jean Gabin wears in his role as
Maréchal is Renoir’s own uniform.
With extensive location filming, the film has a cold realistic feel which a studio-bound
production would lack. This emphasises the warmth of the human participants in the
drama and the audience really does get to sympathise with their frustration and penury.
This is also due in no small part to some exceptional acting performances, particularly
Gabin, Fresnay and von Stroheim, all of whom are perfectly cast in the respective roles.
Eric von Stroheim is the most memorable, playing the part of an aristocratic soldier -
a failed aristocrat and a failed soldier. There is a strange pathos and dignity
in von Stroheim’s performance that makes his probably the most sympathetic character in
the film - although Dita Parlo’s moving small part as Elsa at the end of the film would
be a very close second.
La Grand illusion enjoyed enormous success with the public and critics when it
was released in 1937. However, it was banned by the Nazis as "Cinematographic Enemy
Number One", who systematically attempted to destroy every print in existence, at least
in Europe. Remarkably, a complete print survived and was unearthed by American soldiers
in 1945 - in Munich. Although the film was tarnished for a while after the war as
echoing Vichist sentiment, it was soon reinstated as one of the landmark films in cnema
history. If you have to see just one French film, this would probably be it.
© James Travers 2001
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