Barries Are An Illusion

The Actual Illusion

"It calls for the unity of all Frenchmen across class barriers," claims Raymond Durgnat in his book Jean Renoir, about the film The Grand Illusion (149). It's a war movie without a single battle scene, where only one soldier is killed, and there's not one character which could be portrayed as the villain. Just by the death toll, we get the sense that the film is more than about WWI, but how people are different from each other. The story examines soldiers from different classes and nationalities in an effort to show their common humanity despite these divisions.

The film begins with pilots de Boieldieu and Marechal deciding to investigate an area to plan a military attack. While on their mission, their plane is shot down by the noble German officer Von Rauffenstein. After celebrating his win, Von Rauffenstein orders his German soldiers to seek the fallen pilots and invite them over for lunch before being sent to a prisoners of war camp. Even though they share different allegiances, the moneyed de Boieldieu inevitably strikes up a friendship with Von Rauffenstein since they hail from the same upper social class unlike his fellow countrymen Marechal; who is just a French middle class worker. A German soldier helps Marechal cut his steak and even sparks up a conversation. The dignified Von Rauffenstein Von Rauffenstein apologizes for the death of one of their men.

From the beginning of the movie, social division is displayed by seeing people from the same social class uniting like Marechel did with the German and de Boieldieu with Von Rauffenstein. As aristocratic officers, both men are witnessing the gradual erosion of their inherited privilege and the resulting power shift to the working class and try to stay together.

When they arrive at the camp, both Boieldieu and Marechal, are befriended by their fellow countrymen. The prisoners devise a plan that consists of digging a hole through the ground that ends in the gardens on the other side of the wall. They are forced to switch camps before being able to finish their plan. While in the camp, many examples of closed composition as stated by Gollin in his book A Viewer's Guide to Film "The world in a closed framed but always seems to some extend self defined and self contained" are used (59). Throughout most scenes the soldiers are filmed either enclosed in a door or window frame which added to the feeling of them being trapped in the POW camp. There are also many uses of balanced composition. When the soldiers are in the same scene, they all appear to fit in a triangular composition. This effect starts to show how all these prisoners from different social classes have bonded through this tough time and have become equal despite their divisions.

After a few years, and many failed attempts in various POW camps, de Boieldieu and Marechal are sent to the inescapable German fortress which ends up being run by non other then the stiff backed Von Rauffenstein. When they arrive, they're met by a former friend and wealthy Jew by the name of Rosenthal. The three desperate men device a plan to escape in