Jean Renoir, “The Grand Illusion” (1934)
Jean Renoir’s film is a moving meditation on war and its effects on the traditions of early twentieth century European societies. Aristocrat Captain de Boeldieu (Pierre Fresnay), Lieutenant Marechal (Jean Gabin) and Rosenthal (Marcel Dalio) are French prisoners of war held together by the German army during World War I. The three men plot to escape from their prison and succeed; later they separate and are caught by the Germans. This time, they are transferred to a fortress to be watched over by the German aristocratic officer Von Rauffenstein (Erich von Stroheim). The German officer and the French officer discover they have a great deal in common and together ponder what war does to men of their class and why their class wages war. Later Boeldieu plots with Marechal and Rosenthal on another escape attempt. The two commoners – Marechal is a working-class mechanic and Rosenthal a middle-class banker – escape but Boeldieu is caught, badly wounded.
The film makes a good point that people are united through common class interests instead or inspite of national, ethnic and linguistic interests. Once Marechal and Rosenthal escape a second time, they quickly begin arguing and nearly come to fisticuffs on occasion. Rauffenstein and Boeldieu acknowledge that political / social revolutions and war will sweep their kind away and the world will soon be dominated by the issues and obsessions that interest middle-class and working-class people. Questions of loyalty, duty, nationalism and patriotism arise: which of these counts for more than the others?
The actors play their roles with great sensitivity and dignity: Stroheim in particular as Rauffenstein, who has already seen war and been deeply affected by it, his body shattered in a number of ways, embodies honour and the finer qualities of humans, even if towards just another of his own class who happens to be his enemy. Likewise Boeldieu has a noble spirit which aids Marechal and Rosenthal’s escape but eventually costs him his own life. Marechal and Rosenthal are portrayed with great sympathy – one has to remember the film was made at a time when anti-Semitism and anti-German feeling were rife in France – and even most minor characters are notable for their humanity, wit and good humour.
Renoir’s direction is very deft, moving the plot and its themes along at a brisk and no-nonsense pace. Filming methods including the use of deep focus and some interesting experimentation with framing shots and long takes are presented in a nonchalant way. The countryside plays a surprisingly large part in the film but it’s the social landscape and the relations among the different social classes that most interests Renoir. Viewers certainly feel that times are a-changing because of the war: Boeldieu and von Rauffenstein agree that war is hellish for the plebeians but a necessary function that gives the upper classes their raison d’être. In some respects, that observation rings as true now as it did in the 1930s: the elites may have changed with regard to their childhood backgrounds and how they obtained their money but they still rely on war, whether actual physical war or the war between different social strata and social groups and sub-cultures, to keep the hoi polloi firmly under the heels of their jack-boots.
For a war film, this movie actually does not feature any war and espouses friendship and brotherhood between and among people across societies of the same social level. This is very much an anti-fascist / pro-socialist film that celebrates a common humanity and the love that humans can have for each other that transcends artificial barriers and traditional loyalties.