#24: The Grand Illusion

The Grand Illusion (Renoir, 1939)

This is one I don't have a lot to say about. It's a World War I anti-war movie about a bunch of French soldiers in a German POW camp. The film is filled with little victories, which are immediately canceled out and revealed as futile. They spend months digging a tunnel, only to get moved to a different prison a few days before it's finished. They try to tell the new prisoners it's there, but they don't speak the same language. They hear France captured a new German base, and they celebrate. A few days later it gets taken back. Neither side ends up really benefiting from the war. The film also shows the human toll the futile war takes along the way.

It's undoubtedly one of the most iconic anti-war movies. I find some of the characters annoying, and I find the setting a little to antiseptic to be a war movie. But, those are minor complaints.

Rating: *** 1/2 / 5

70/101

Next: The 400 Blows, Last Year In Marienbad