All Quiet on the Western Front (2022)

Edward Berger’s All Quiet on the Western Front starts with a moment of juxtaposition. We are shown the beautiful winter forest in France, and then a family of foxes sleeping, nestled in their foxhole. A foxhole as nature intended. Then we are shown a gruesome, overhead shot of a nearby battlefield. The bodies of young men in German and French uniforms are strewn about in the cold mud. If only they had stayed in their foxholes. Or warm in their homes. 

Then we are shown the ever moving machine that is war. Soldiers emerge from the trenches only to die within a few minutes. The dead are collected into piles and transported. They are stripped of their uniforms and shoes. Coffins are stacked. Blood is washed out of uniforms, the bullet holes sewn shut. Ready for the next round of soldiers to wear, fight and die in.

Adapted from Erich Maria Remarque’s classic novel, the film follows four young German men as they leave school, eager to join the war. Their teacher fills them with hope, telling them that they are the future of Germany, that they will be marching on Paris within weeks and many wonderful things await when they come home victorious. 

The boys’ arrival at the front is a rude awakening. Their transport is given up so medics can help the dozens of dying men left in the mud. One of their first orders in the trench is to bail out the filthy, knee high water. One boy comments “Somehow this isn’t how I imagined it.” By the end of the night the boys will have experienced their first bombing and seen absolutely horrific and gruesome deaths. 

Watching this version of All Quiet on the Western front is not for the faint of heart. The realistic violence and gore rival nearly every other war movie I’ve ever seen. I can watch grizzly horror movies and not bat an eye, but some of the violence and reactions from other soldiers got under my skin and made me want to turn away. I share this with you not just as a warning for the squeamish, but a testament to how effective this film is. It is an unflinching look at the horrors of war and makes us more sympathetic to these poor soldiers dying in the mud and fills us with hatred for the leaders who keep this war going in comfort from afar.

All Quiet on the Western Front is nominated for nine Academy Awards, including Best Picture. The other nominations are best sound, adapted screenplay, cinematography, production design, makeup and hairstyling, visual effects, and original score. It’s easy to see that with this film’s various technical achievements make it an intense and immersive film to experience.. All Quiet on the Western Front is also nominated for Best International Feature Film, representing Germany. 

This film is a stirring, dramatic and gruesome look at World War I. And just as the author originally intended, it still sends a deep anti-war message. It’s never worth it. There is no glory in war. There is no glory in death. To some, soldiers were simply a cog in the machine, easily replaced when they were spent. But the human within the soldier, they are worth remembering. We remember their sacrifice and tell their stories for generations to come. 

“My son killed in the war. He doesn’t feel any honor.”

1917

Relentless. That’s the word that rings in my head as I think about Sam Mendes’ film 1917. Based on stories from Mendes’ grandfather in WWI, the film follows two WWI British soldiers, Lance Corporal  Blake (Dean-Charles Chapman) and Lance Corporal Schofield (George MacKay) on an important mission. Before dawn, they need to walk nine miles through enemy territory to deliver a message to stop an attack planned for the morning. The soldiers there are heading into a trap. Against time and all odds, they must deliver this message to save 1,600 men, including Blake’s brother.

What makes this film so relentless is the fact that it is filmed to look like one continuous shot. From the field of wildflowers Blake and Schofield are resting by, to the end of the film, the camera follows these soldiers on their mission barely letting us blink. The camera moves through the labyrinth of trenches, across the dreaded no-mans-land, through an abandoned farm house, a town reduced to rubble and flame, down a raging river, through forests and into battle. There’s no downtime for these men as they navigate through muddy craters, run from a crashing plane, accidentally stick a hand into a rotting corpse that a rat just climbed out of and desperately run from enemy fire. The intense and unblinking realism of this film is downright frightening.

The night scene is both beautiful and terrifying. In it, Schofield is trying to get across a town that has been reduced to rubble. He can only see by the fires raging, flares and bombs exploding around him. Hiding in the shadows and destruction are enemy soldiers. The cinematography in this film is amazing, but the night scene sends it over the edge.

Like great war films, these soldiers also show compassion. For Schofield, he happens upon a young French woman and a baby. He gives them all the food he has. It’s a gentle, sweet moment that breaks away from the chaos, only briefly. Unfortunately, Blake’s act of compassion doesn’t go as well. 

I’m sure Hitchcock would be astounded at the technical achievement of this film. To make a feature film that appears to be one long, continuous shot (there is one major cut to black and back) is ambitious and obviously took an unprecedented amount of planning with sprawling sets and some of the most advanced equipment. I’ve read that there was nearly one mile of trenches dug for the film. Following soldiers through them, I believe it.

1917 received ten Oscar nominations including Best Picture, original screenplay, cinematography, makeup and hairstyling, production design, original score, visual effects, sound mixing and sound editing. Sam Mendes is nominated for best director, his second nomination. His previous nomination earned him a win for American Beauty. I seriously doubt 1917 will leave Oscar night empty handed.

I saw 1917 in an IMAX theater and would highly recommend seeing the film that way. The film is not so much a story, but an experience alongside the soldiers, and seeing it on such a big, immersive screen only heightens that experience. Honestly, I nearly ducked at one point. I don’t think any film has made me do that. 

“I hoped today would be a good day. Hope is a dangerous thing.”

The African Queen

After I finally sat down to watch The African Queen, the I immediately wondered why it had taken so long to check it off my list.  I loved it.  It’s the kind of film that feels tailored to me: action and adventure down the wild jungle rivers of Africa with a surprisingly welcome bit of romance.

Rose (Katharine Hepburn) is a British missionary in Africa with her brother in the early twentieth century.  Charlie Allnut (Humphrey Bogart) is a steamboat captain who brings them mail and news, including that Germany and Britain are at war.  By the next time Allnut visits, Germans have burned the village to the ground and Rose’s brother is dead.  Taking pity on the lady, Allnut takes her with him on the river.  Seeing he has a load of explosives and old canisters of gas, Rose gets an idea to make torpedoes and attack a German ship.  The river journey ahead of them is long and treacherous, but along it they may find strength in each other and even love.

This film quickly becomes a thrilling ride of an adventure.  In fact, it’s rumored that Walt Disney was inspired by The African Queen to create the Jungle Cruise ride.  All along the river are wild animals, bugs, Germans and white water rapids.  The rapids scenes are hair raising moments that make you hold on and release you into euphoric celebration alongside our characters.  It’s so much fun!

Inside the boat, there is at first tension between Charlie and Rose.  She, being so straight-laced, despises the way he drinks and he, being more laid back and not the happiest drunk, gets annoyed with her stuffiness easily.  When Rose pours all of Charlie’s gin into the river, the scene rivals Pirates of the Caribbean for angry “Why is the booze gone?” moment.  But after a close call down the rapids, which Rose handles like a champ, a spark is lit between them.

For the next scene or two, the nervous emotion between our leads is electric.  In my mind, it rivals some of the greatest love scenes in its sweet and awkward sincerity.  By the time their new found love and attraction is out in the open, it’s just as much an uplifting relief for the audience as it is for the characters.

The African Queen was nominated for four Academy Awards and won only one.  It was nominated for best screenplay, John Huston for director, Katharine Hepburn for best lead actress and Humphrey Bogart won for best lead actor.  In my mind, this is the best film of 1951.  Okay, I’ll let it tie with A Streetcar Named Desire, but I finally understand how Brando didn’t win that Oscar.

Bogart is so energetic and endearing throughout the film.  He seems to channel a bit of Buster Keaton’s character in The General in the way that he is so in tune with The African Queen.  I love how Bogart gets up on the side of the boat and kicks the boiler with both feet to fix it.  The early scene with his stomach growling is subtly hilarious and makes his character softer than his bristly face would suggest.  His gin swilling side in the beginning of the film is wonderfully rough, yet gels well with his more lovable side later in the film.  In the end, it may have been Bogart’s ridiculous hippo impression that sealed that Oscar envelope.

If you enjoy action, adventure, romance, Bogart and Hepburn (and who doesn’t?) you absolutely must see The African Queen.  Honestly, go now, it’s on Netflix Instant.  I imagine children will eat this movie up, with all the fun and thrilling moments journeying down the river.  They’ll probably get a kick out of the random b-roll of wild animals edited in and the adults can enjoy unforgettable performances by Bogart and Hepburn.

“Never say die.  That’s my motto.”

War Horse

When I went to see War Horse the other night, I had my doubts about the film.  Though I try to avoid other opinions, I had heard it called “a sleeper” and imagined what I fear in all horse movies: too many graceful jumps showcasing the horses beauty, a child with an unrealistic emotional attached to the creature and the possibility of an Old Yeller end where I cynically cheer on the gunman.  Thankfully, Steven Spielberg has made War Horse was like no other horse movie I had ever seen.

In England, young Albert (Jeremy Irvine) is fascinated by a beautiful newborn colt.  At the auction, his father gets in a bidding war with their landlord and ends up buying the colt for more than they can afford.  The only thing that will keep the family on their land is getting the new horse to plow a rocky field.  With the whole town watching, Albert and the colt, Joey (Finder Key, the same horse that played Seabiscuit), pull off only the first miraculous moment of the film.

Now, the relationship between Albert and Joey does get a bit emotional.  Seeing a boy in his mid-teens get all starry eyed over a horse might be an eye-roll for some.  I felt that way only for a little while.  Albert has enough good qualities (patience, determination, strength to keep his family together) that we allow him a few tears as a boy.  The war will make a man out of him soon enough.

When Wold War I starts up, the family is still not financially well, so they sell the horse to the army.  Albert vows that he will find Joey again, attaching an old banner his father brought home when he returned from war to the horse.  What follows is one hell of a journey for a horse, through battlefields on either side of the war.  He becomes instrumental in the fate of nearly every person that he encounters during the war, and their kindness towards him and others is remarkable.

One of my favorite scenes is when Joey is discovered in no-man’s-land.  During battle, he ran blindly, scared and got tangled in barbed wire.  The trench warfare scenes are some of the best I’ve seen since All Quiet on the Western Front.  While the firing has stopped, soldiers from both sides help free him from the wire.  For a few moments, there is peace between the two enemies as they work together and peacefully decide which side will take the horse.  They even trade names and shake hands.  Somehow, the animal bring out the humanity in both sides, and it feels authentic, not overplayed.

Those who are very sensitive to pain in animals may want to reconsider seeing War Horse.  The gritty realities of war are shown here, and they affect the horses just as much as the humans.  Some scenes depict the horses being shot in battle, worked to death and horribly tangled in barbed wire.  The mass grave of dead horses left my jaw hanging for a moment.  This is certainly not a horse movie for little girls.

War Horse is nominated for six Oscars: Best Picture, Art Direction, Cinematography, Sound Editing, Sound Mixing and Original Score.  Obviously, the film excels technically.  For what lag there may be in plot or a lack of big name actors, the sound quality and beauty of the film more than makes up for it.  It is the only Best Picture nominations that can feel like an epic, and leaves you with an old world sense of beauty and bravery.

While I had prepared myself to be bored with War Horse, I was surprised at how much I enjoyed it.  Visually, it was beautifully rich and my eyes gladly soaked it all in.  The story kept me engaged for the most part, though there was one very predictable climactic moment.  What I think I enjoyed the most was the intensity and reality depicted, both during the war and before it on the family farm.  There was purpose, meaning and a drive behind everything Albert and Joey did.  And that makes for a pretty good movie, that just happens to be about a horse.

“It is an honor to ride beside you.”

If the Academy is looking to award an epic film that draws on technical beauty and a sense of duty and bravery, the Oscar for Best Picture will go to War Horse.

Goodbye, Mr. Chips

Most schools have that one old teacher who seems be part of the school and has taught one family member after another.  Author of the book the film is based on, James Hilton, created the character Mr. Chips after his old classics teacher at The Leys public school in Cambridge who taught there for over fifty years.  Rather than feeling completely specific to one man, Mr. Chips seems to be a character that is made to embody many old favorite teachers.

After getting a brief history on the present Chips (Robert Donat) and his beloved boarding school, we are taken back to his beginning in 1870, seeing Chips as a young man trying to teach his first pupils.  The boys see fresh meat, and give Chips a very rocky start to his career.  In order to regain control and respect, Chips becomes a disciplinarian, but that doesn’t make him particularly popular among the boys.

Years pass, boys grow, graduate and more arrive.  One summer middle-age approaching Chips ventures to Austria with a colleague and meets what seems to be the first and only woman ever interested in him, Katharine (Greer Garson).  After having a bit of a mountain  adventure  to bond over, Chips gets the courage to ask for her hand in marriage.  When they arrive back at the school, it seems that life with Katharine reinvents Chips to be more popular with the students.  The new couple regularly invites them over for snacks and light conversation.  Suddenly, Chips is no longer an old stick in the mud and Katharine seems to be a pillar of encouragement.

Years pass, tragedy occurs, life goes on.  By now Chips is well loved by the boys and can recall teaching some of their fathers, but is being asked to retire.  When WWI strikes up, a new headmaster is needed, one who knows the school and can lead it well, so they turn to Chips.  One particularly sad moment is when the names of his former pupils that have been killed in action are being read off regularly.  But as the war ends, life does go on and Chips gets to teach four generations in the same family.

As Chips gets older, he seems to be a model for Dumbeldore in the Harry Potter series, there’s a cheerful glint in his eye behind the aged face.  The makeup work goes a long way here.  However, the younger Chips is very ridged and unsure of himself, they nearly feel like different people.  I guess that can happen over a sixty-three year span in life, and portraying that is deserving of the Best Actor Oscar, but it didn’t feel all that special or invigorating.  Personally, I’d be more satisfied seeing Gable or Stewart holding the award for their performances from 1939.

Honestly, Goodbye, Mr. Chips is kinda fun, kinda cute and a sort of heartwarming.  It’s like when you coat too much syrup on something that needs more substance and it gets way to sappy toward the end.  It’s simply alright, but I wouldn’t go back for seconds.  See if if you’re a fan of Robert Donat.

“These dead languages do come to live sometimes.”

Sergeant York

I hate to make this comparison, but you know that film within Inglorious Basterds, Nation’s Pride?  Today, this seems like the friendlier, American version, only instead of two hours of just patriotic shooting, we get the true story of a young man from rural Tennessee reformed by hard work and religion.  Then it turns to the shooting and glory of being a war hero.

The film starts with Alvin C. York (Gary Cooper) being a wild young man who rides his horse up to the state line to get his fill of liquor and rides back to drunkenly shoot his initials in a tree outside the little church with the whole town inside.  Even when he is about to fall off his horse, he shoots well enough for that A and Y to be straight and legible on the tree.  Poor old Mother York (Margaret Wycherly) is tired of being ashamed of her oldest son and sends her younger son George (Dickie Moore) to bring him home.  After a long ride to sober up and a meal with the folks, Alvin starts straightening out, but still has no belief in God.

While hunting with George one day, Alvin runs across Gracie Williams (Joan Leslie), “all growed up” and looking pretty.  Gracie has more than Alvin checking her out, but she doesn’t approve of fighting, so Alvin decides he needs some land to prove his worth to Gracie.  He sets his sights on a fertile piece of farmland and starts marking on a calendar how much he has saved up every day.  Alvin works hard, but when someone buys the land just to screw Alvin over, it sends him to the border on another binge.  On his way home, in a drunken rage, something miraculous happens that makes Alvin believe in God.  Next thing we know, he’s leading a Sunday school class and quoting the bible at every turn.

When WWI starts up, Alvin wants to be exempt from fighting because of his new-found religious beliefs.  Unfortunately, the draft board does not recognize his little church in the Tennessee valley and he is recruited against his will.  Training is a big experience for Alvin, he meets new people like Pusher (George Tobias) from New York who teaches him about thing he has never even heard about, like the subway.  When Alvin is discovered to be a terrific shooter and a man who refuses to fight, his officers give him a book on the history of the United States to help him reconsider.  Based on the movie poster and his decorated history, you already know Alvin’s decision.

I don’t want to belittle Alvin C. York, the most decorated WWI veteran, but this film would not go over as well with most audiences today.  While I enjoy the story of his redemption and renewed work ethic, by the end of the film it can seem like a two hour recruitment poster for the most isolated people in the bible belt.  At points in the film, Alvin is even compared to Daniel Boone. You mix all those messages with a story of Alvin turn his life around in attempts to get a pretty girl and soon you have throngs of choir boys signing up for war, gun in one hand, bible in the other.

Despite my distaste for the pro-war message aimed at the south, Gary Cooper pulls off an Oscar winning performance as Alvin.  Simply put, we like him, just like I hope we would like the real Alvin.  He’s just an aw-shucks Tennessee country boy who is trying to please his mother and work hard to earn the affections of prettiest girl in town.  He pulls off that earnest southern drawl and phrases like “I ain’t a-goin’ to war.  War’s killin’, and the book’s agin’ killin!  So war is agin’ the book!” with enough conviction that I could take it more serious than what it looks like written out.  Cooper makes Alvin perfectly humble and sweet, he just so happens to be a hell of a shooter.  Though I applaud his Oscar win for best actor here, my heart always feels a little pain knowing how I’ve wanted that to go to Orson Welles for Citizen Kane.

All Quiet on the Western Front

It was in a high school history class that I first encountered All Quiet on the Western Front.  Even as my classmates groaned over the black and white, I think Mr. Acton realized this was one of those films that everyone needs to see.  Between then and now, the film based on the novel by Erich Maria Remarque and directed by Lewis Milestone, resonated just as well within me, just as it has for generations over the past eight decades.

In Germany, WWI is beginning like a fanfare outside the windows of a classroom full of young men, barely old enough to sign up for the war.  Their old teacher fills them with pride, calling them the “iron men of Germany” and asking if they will join up.  While he makes war sound like a romantic and honorable duty, some of the boys drift into their own fantasies about making their parents proud in the German uniform and riding in a parade in their honor with women all around.  Throwing their young ambitions to the wind, the entire class signs up and together they learn the cruel truth about war.

All Quiet on the Western Front was one of the most violent and graphic films of its time.  It was not until 1934 that the Production Code was enforced, keeping films less graphic and racy.  We see the gritty side of trench warfare full of rats, barbed wire, amputations, men being mowed down in waves from the early machine guns and bombs exploding at all hours.  Between seeing these young men cope with dying, being driven mad and becoming ruthless killers the psychological aspects of the film are just as compelling as the visuals.

One of the most captivating scenes in the film is when Paul (Lew Ayres) is stuck in a ditch overnight with a man he wounded.  With bombs and gunfire all around, he cannot risk leaving, but between that and a man slowly dying by his own hand, he becomes very disturbed.  He goes back and forth from hating the man, wishing he would die faster to wanting to help him.  It is such a poignant and emotional scene that puts faces to either side of the war and shows an inner struggle within Paul that many soldiers try not to think about.  This was one of the most memorable scenes back in that classroom nearly ten years ago, and it remains one that affects me the most.

The crushing sense of disillusion these young men face is what sets this apart from many other war films.  The stark contrast between the boys as they cheer around their classroom to the realizations of a violent death in a muddy trench is startling.  After seeing this level of soul crushing brutality, it is hard to imagine anyone willing to go to war.  That is something rare to see in war films until the Vietnam era, and I believe makes this better than many modern war films.

Because of the film’s realistic and unflattering look at war, it was banned in many European countries until the fifties.  It was playing for a short while in Germany, but during many screenings, Nazis would interrupt the film by storming into the theater chanting their slogans, releasing rats or setting off stink bombs.  While it was still playing in neighboring countries, there would be busses secretly shuttling people from Germany to the screenings.

All Quiet on the Western Front is one of those essential films that everyone should see.  The fact that it is over eighty years old seems to drive people away, but I assure you, it is one of the best quality films you will find from the thirties.  Many times, today’s war films are all gore and no substance.  This is a film that is not too gory by today’s standards, but holds its merit within its ideals.  Between its strong anti-war message, heartbreaking storyline and intense images, the film can still captivate viewers today.

“You’re just a man like me and I killed you.  Oh God, why did they do this to us?”

Cavalcade

A cavalcade is a procession, or parade of sorts.  In the film, the transitions between chapters show that literally, with images of trail of people on horseback in medieval period clothes.  They seem to just be the past looking on and ushering history.  The real cavalcade is all about time marching on and the film focuses on a British family, from ringing in the beginning of the twentieth century up to the present in which this film first appeared, 1933.

The Marryot family, is a well-to-do couple Robert (Clive Brook) and Jane (Diana Wynyard) with two small boys in London.  The film begins with a sweet moment watching the young family celebrate the new year 1900, where there seems to be nothing but potential.  Marching alongside them is the Bridges family, with their baby girl Fanny.  Soon the men are called off for the Boer War in Africa.  At home, the Marryot boys are playing with their soldiers while their poor mother is nearly mad with worry.  Not long after war is over, all of England is stricken with grief over the death of Queen Victoria.  There is a beautiful image of Jane and her boys on their balcony watching the somber procession march past.

Soon the boys are grown and start taking the lead role of the stories.  The elder son, Edward (John Warburton) falls in love, marries and takes a tragic honeymoon aboard the Titanic.  Years later, the younger son, Joe (Frank Lawton), falls in love with Fanny (Ursula Jeans), all grown up and dancing for the troops.  Though their parents disapprove, they plan to marry when he returns from WWI, but there is more tragedy.

What is left of the family is a generation getting old and remembering the potential they once had.    It makes me thing that director Frank Lloyd was not at all happy with the events he saw in the beginning of the twentieth century and spelled out his disappointment in the film’s characters.  Still, all they can do is march on and believe in the future.

The story can just feel like personalized history, but towards the end there was a segment that resonated and really caught my attention.  Fanny sings a song called Twentieth Century Blues while a montage is shown depicting a whirlwind of nightclubs, drinking, gambling and women dancing.  It seems the world has changed and become amoral in the past thirty years.  All that is left for Robert and Jane to do is propose a toast to the future.  One without wars.  One with dignity and peace.

While all these events can feel like ancient history to us today, it is amazing to remember that it was only a few generations ago that witnessed all of this.  Frank Lloyd and I are only ninety-nine years apart, perhaps we could have similar perspectives on our respected centuries.  Most readers will remember how they celebrated the turn of the twenty-first century.  We are the lucky generation who has embarked on a new millennium and all the events to far afterward.  What cavalcade will be tell our children or grandchildren about?  Let us remember and celebrate those we lost in the footsteps of history and continue to march onward with optimism, no matter what we face.

“I still believe in the future.”

Reds

John “Jack” Reed was an American journalist, and communist activist who wrote Ten Days that Shook the World, a first hand account of a crucial point in the Russian Revolution.  His wife, Louise Bryant was a feminist writer, and journalist beside him.  Reds is a three hour epic telling the true story of Jack, Louise and their part alongside the Russian Revolution.

The story begins when Jack (Warren Beatty) and Louise (Diane Keaton) first meet.  She’s an artist trying to be a serious writer and married to another man.  Louise leaves her husband to be with Jack, but he often leaves her alone to travel and cover political stories.  While Jack is away, she has an affair with Eugene O’Neill (Jack Nicholson) a poet and playwright that would later win the Pulitzer Prize.  Louise and Jack marry without ever mentioning the infidelity, but when it comes out later,he admits to his affairs as well.  This causes Louise to leave.  They don’t see each other again until Jack asks Louise to go to Russia with him to write about the revolution.  He’s always supportive of her work, but is afraid that no one will take her seriously if she doesn’t go to and write about the most important thing happening at the moment.  Their work within the revolution rekindles their relationship and inspires Jack to bring the ideals sweeping Russia back to the United States.

Edited in throughout the film are clips of interviews of those who remember the time period.  Some are firsthand witnesses to the Russian Revolution, others knew, met or caught glimpses of Jack and Louise in real life.  The very first moments of the film are the “witnesses” telling us a few things about Jack and Louise in their own words: Jack was a playboy.  Louise was an exhibitionist.  Their opinions and statements are often contradictory of each other.  One says about the outbreak of WWI, “There was a lot of anti war rallying.”  And the next person says, “There wasn’t anyone against the war.”  These interviews bring a personal feel to the story and remind us that this piece of history wasn’t too long ago.

Unless you are really into political journalism, the Russian Revolution or a semi-biopic about the relationship between Jack Reed and Louise Bryant, this is probably not your film of choice.  Three ours of those three topics, even with a little Jack Nicholson charm sprinkled in, is a very long film to get through.  No doubt, it is a beautiful, thoughtful film with an engaging story mixed with history and love.  But sadly, I was starting to get bored when the political talk began to take the main stage and by time it was time for some train exploding climatic action, I was just thinking about investing in a nice ushanka.

“You dream that if you discuss the revolution with a man before you go to bed with him, it’ll be missionary work rather than sex.”

Grand Illusion

Before we talk about the film, I’d like to shine some light upon the director, Jean Renoir.  Born in Paris, he was the son of the impressionist painter Pierre Renoir.  In World War I, he fought in the French army, and earned a Croix de Guerre for his heroism that left him suffering from wounds that would never heal properly.  After the war, he began his film making, fled to the US during the German occupation of France in WWII and continued his work .  Orson Welles considered him to be the greatest director of all time and most consider him to be the greatest French director.

Grand Illusion follows two French officers in WWI who are shot down over Germany by Captain von Rauffenstein (Erich von Stroheim), captured and put in POW camps.  Lt. Maréchal (Jean Gabin) is a lower class officer, a mechanic in civilian life and a bit hot-headed.  Captain de Boeldieu (Pierre Fresnay) is calmer, of higher rank and is treated better by the Germans because of it.  In their first camp, they share a room with men who are working on an escape tunnel.  The tunnel construction scenes are very tense and don’t spare the dangers.  Later, Maréchal and de Boeldieu are joined by Rosenthal (Marcel Dalio) and moved to a 13th century castle converted into a fortress.  There de Boeldieu is reunited with von Rauffenstein and is given special treatment due to his rank.  Many times von Rauffenstein and de Boeldieu muse together, realizing that once the war is over their high military rank will mean nothing.  This drives a wedge between de Boeldieu and his French comrades, but becomes essential in an escape plan.

While the men are in the first POW camp, a major event in the war happens.  Fort Douaumont is captured by the Germans and the French prisoners cannot escape hearing their celebration.  It brings their moral a little lower, but they try to occupy themselves by organizing a play.  The evening of their performance, they decide to invite their main captor, Sergant Arthur (Werner Florian), and fill the show with men in ridiculous women’s dancing costumes, singing and some defiant jokes towards their captors.  The play is interrupted by the good news that the French have recaptured Fort Douaumont and all the POWs stand and sing together, celebrating right in front of their captors.   It’s a very uplifting moment.

Grand Illusion has caused quite a ruckus in it’s time.  In French, this is the first foreign language film nominated for Best Picture at the Academy Awards.  Later, as German occupation swept France, Joseph Goebbels (one of Hitler’s closest associates), made sure to take prints of the film calling Jean Renoir “Cinematic Public Enemy Number 1.”  The film was assumed to be destroyed in air raids until 1945 when Russians entered Berlin and kept it in an archive in Moscow.  Renoir would know nothing about his film’s capture or whereabouts until his restoration in the 1960’s.  Isn’t film history fascinating?

If you’re a real film or history buff, Grand Illusion should be on your must-see list, but I don’t imagine many causal movie-goers dying to see this film.  Pit falls for the in-betweeners is that the film is in French and with having to keep up with the subtitles, it can be easy to overlook the visual beauty Renoir brings.  If you’re fluent in French, I say go for it, it was made for you.

“Out there, children play soldier… In here, soldiers play like children.”