Drama · History · War
French (La Grande Illusion)
1937 · Directed by Jean Renoir · 114 min
France, 1916. Captured French airmen are moved from one German prison camp to another, among fellow prisoners from very different social backgrounds and captors who share some of those divisions. A war film with almost no combat, interested in who people feel allied to, and why.
Why it matters in cinema history
A central film of French Poetic Realism's era and of Renoir's humanist period. It is also a pioneering example of a war film that argues against war without showing a battle.
Watch with intention
Watch how often the film puts people of the same class, not the same country, on the same side of the frame.
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