Grand Illusion

(La Grande illusion)
Jean Renoir, France, 1938
3 out of 4 stars

This classic film attempts to deal with the legacy of the first world war, as the countries involved teetered on the verge of the next one. It's an interesting exercise, albeit one that is perhaps almost lost on a 21st century American. Of course, the first thing that struck me was the unreal, "gentleman-like" manner in which the French officers are treated after they are captured and placed in the officer's prison camp. It's obvious, but it's still quite amazing to see the ways in which the class structure took precedence over nationalism even in times of war. This is still effective today, because this phenomenon was basically put to death by the war depicted (offscreen) here, and we regard it today with as much puzzlement as viewers then would have (okay, probably more).

If you've seen the film, however, you'll object to my over-simplification of the special treatment recieved by officers as due to the class structure. In fact, I assumed it was that simple for at least the first half of the film, because I was blind to the subtle, but frequent hints of class difference between the officers themselves. It was only after a complete change of scenery that these issues came surging to the surface. It's probably not a coincidence, then, that I really didn't appreciate this second half anywhere near as much as the first half, as I didn't really understand what the source of the conflict was until it was, finally, spelled out for me (and the fact that the film eventually does so indicates that these issues were perhaps already a bit muddled for some people as of 1933). The conflict itself is interesting, but it does feel a bit protracted. Finally, the film concludes with a fairly-tired road/buddy movie sequence that, thankfully, doesn't last all that long. I imagine that even this part of the film is probably more influential than tired, but some things are hard to appreciate in retrospect.

So, just to sum up, I was pretty impressed by the portion of the film that takes place in the first concentration camp. The message was clear and the surreal nature of the proceedings kept me interested. After that part, the film was still strong, but it was harder for me to relate to it, and by the end, I felt like everything had been dragged out for longer than necessary. Considering that this is a revered classic, it's probably not a fair judgment, but it's mine nonetheless!

Source: Home Vision DVD
19 Aug, 8:35 PM