Kirpianuscus After its final credits, easy to define it as The Film. for the simple motif to discover the war from a sensitive, so different perspective. for the science of detail. for the wise social critic. for impecable performances. for the admirable story. and, maybe, for special feeling who, in great measure, is its basic gift. a film about people. and their answers to a terrible challenge. for me, decades ago, the occasion for discover Erich von Stroheim in one of his magnificent roles. a film who must see. for to remind. values, virtues and the real force of cinema.

classicsoncall After viewing the film, I'm in a quandary as to why it has earned the reputation it has. About the only historical element that came across as accurate to me was the preference shown to officer prisoners of war, who were segregated from the general population of combat soldiers captured in battle. Beyond that, the story seemed almost farcical, what with the German Captain von Rauffenstein (Erich von Stroheim) expressing cordiality to the French captain and pilot he shot down. A later scene when he begs Captain Boeldieu (Pierre Fresnay) to halt in his escape attempt was even more ludicrous. If these examples were meant to convey some intended message about humanity in the midst of war it was totally lost on me. And the idea of prisoner soldiers dressing in drag to put on an entertainment show defied any kind of rationale I could come up with. Not to mention another question I had - where exactly would the prisoners have gotten all those flutes to irritate their German captors, or the pots and pans they came up with as an encore?I don't know, I must be missing something, and even the more enlightened positive reviews for the film fail to convince me that there's something of significance to be found here. Perhaps in time I'll give it another try, but for now I can only shake my head in wonder. For me, the term Grand Illusion carries an entirely different connotation now as it relates to the movie.

Musashi94 While some say The Rules of the Game is Jean Renoir's best film, I say it's La Grande Illusion. A war film without the war manages to be the most poignant reflection on World War I ever made with some of the most humanistic and engaging performances ever captured on film, perfectly pacing and just the right amount of sentiment and pathos.The vast majority of the film follows two French aviators and their ordeals in a series of German POW camps after being shot down. This is a pivotal filmmaking decision as it strips all the false glory out of war and only leaves us with its ugly aftermath. There are no combat scenes, just men trying to escape and reacting to news of the war. In the third act, the setting shifts when one of the aviators and another French prisoner escapes thanks to the sacrifice of the other aviator. They hide out in a farm on the Swiss border where the aviator falls in love with the proprietress, a war widow, but is ultimately forced to leave her behind in order to escape over the border from the German pursuit.Renoir has also been terrific at coaxing great performances out of his actors and La Grande Illusion has one of the greatest concentration of truly great performances in a movie. The legendary Jean Gabin was never better than as the passionate Maréchal while the other French aviator, de Boeldieu, is played by Pierre Fresnay in a career-best performance that excellently conveys his character's aristocratic grace. The best performance of all is probably by the great director and actor Erich von Stroheim as the German officer von Rauffenstein. De Boeldieu and von Rauffenstein bond over the course of the film due to their shared background and attitudes towards the world. Fresnay and Stroheim have excellent repertoire with one another, helping make the moment when von Rauffenstein must kill de Boeldieu, who is sacrificing himself to buy time for Maréchal and another prisoner to escape, almost unbearably tragic. I would be remiss if I also didn't take the time to single out Marcel Dalio and Dita Parlo among the supporting cast, as they also give excellent performances as a French prisoner of Jewish descent named Rosenthal and the widowed German farmer respectively.This terrific cast is supported by Renoir's steady direction and writing. The film moves along at a brisk pace while at the same time knowing the right moments to stop and go into things more in depth. Renoir's camera-work is also fantastic as well, displaying his trademark deep focus cinematography, which makes the settings of the film, such as the Château du Haut-Kœnigsbourg and the Alps, come alive on screen.Renoir manages to imbue the film with a great sense of humanism, making it staunchly pro-war without coming across as didactic. All nationalities and social classes come across as human; no one is vilified which helps make the film's appeal more universal rather than being limited to those of a specific country or socioeconomic background. There is no great diatribe against the war. Instead it can all be summed up by the film's closing line, spoken by a German soldier as Maréchal and Rosenthal escape across the border: "All the better for them!"

disinterested_spectator What a lovefest! Though set in the middle of World War I, yet this movie shows everyone getting along fabulously. A German and a French officer regard their class as more important than their nationality, the German being very sad when he has to shoot the Frenchman. A Christian and a Jewish officer become pals and celebrate Christmas together, at a time when anti-Semitism was quite common. A German widow protects two French officers who have escaped, falling in love with one of them. They plan to get married after the war. When the two escapees make it over the Swiss border just as the Germans arrive, the Germans are relieved that they do not have to shoot them.In the face of all this brotherhood-of-man stuff, we are forced to conclude that the whole war was just some big misunderstanding among friends.