Grand Illusion

Initially we meet two French officers, Captain De Boieldieu (Pierre Fresnay) Lieutenant Maréchal (Jean Gabin) planning an air raid before a remarkable cut to German commandant and flying ace Von Rauffenstein (Erich von Stroheim) who declares that he has just shot down the French pilots. Although prisoners, De Boieldieu and Maréchal are treated as equals with the German fighter pilots as they sit down together for lunch. The entire room respectfully mourns a third French pilot when a wreath is brought into the room-the "enemies" remain brothers in arms through their common bond as pilots. Similar themes are repeated throughout the film.

Before long De Boieldieu and Lieutenant Maréchal are sent to a POW camp under Commandant Von Rauffenstein, who has a special affinity for De Boieldieu, as they both come from privileged backgrounds. Later Von Rauffenstein declares to his new French friend that, "For a commoner, dying in a war is a tragedy. But for you and I-it's a good way out.'

Indeed, De Boieldieu has enjoyed the finer cuisine of Maxim's while his fellow French prisoners can not fathom spending so much money on food. That doesn't prevent De Boieldieu from associating with the more common POWs-he joins in with the traditional digging of the tunnel and plays a heroic part in helping Maréchal and Jewish POW Lieutenant Rosenthal (Marcel Dalio) escape.

Rosenthal provides a character that allows for anti-Semitic remarks to come forth (remember that the film was created immediately before WWII when Hitler's anti-Jewish campaign was well known), and allow him to show that Jewish stereotypes are meaningless. Rosenthal may be well off financially, but he shares his food parcels with everyone, so that the prisoners actually dine much better than their captors do. The fact that the Germans allow their prisoners to receive parcels demonstrates Renoir's faith in humanity. The Germans treat their prisoners so humanely that Von Rauffenstein finds it difficult to believe that the POWs would try to escape after giving their word. Not all the Germans are so naïve. Sergeant Arthur (Werner Florian) not so subtly lets on that knows about the garden, where the prisoners have been dumping the dirt from the tunnel. Yet he does nothing about it-another element to reinforce Renoir's themes about the importance of human relationships and the futility of war. A couple of other elements that must have made Hitler and his Nazi regime uncomfortable:

1. The memorable show put on

The copyright of the article Grand Illusion in Foreign Films is owned by John Nesbit. Permission to republish Grand Illusion in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.

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