In The Grand Illusion there are no demons, no obsessions and no broken minds. The characters are professional soldiers who regrettably have to kill each other sometimes, but don’t see that as a reason to be less than cordial to each other.
French POW's Escaping Germany
This movie is divided into three sections. In the first, seven French officer POWs try to escape from a camp. The camp ships them off just before they are able to, though. In the second section three of them meet back up at a different camp, and attempt again to escape. The third section sees two of those characters trudging across the German wilderness, trying to make it to neutral territory. In this third section they stay for a while with a German widow, with whom one of them falls in love.
Aimless Aristocrats and Passionate Peasants
Class is an important feature in this movie: important enough for Roger Ebert to claim that it is the titular grand illusion. The movie articulates the strengths and weaknesses of both aristocracy and the commoner class through its drama. The aristocrats relate to each other in respectful but ultimately doomed ways, while the commoners relate to each other in passionate but ultimately ineffective ways.
A Social Commentary on Old Blood in WWI
The section of the movie that examines the aristocrats most closely is set in a castle which has been converted to a prison camp. The power of this setting is symbolic and ironic. The castle, once the height of military technology and an icon of aristocracy, has been reduced to a prisoner-of-war camp attended by an old-world aristocrat who can no longer fight. The status of nobility in war has sunk so far as to be a single war away from disappearing.
Early in the castle segment the POWs are making a rope. Von Rauffenstein decides to conduct a surprise inspection, and Boeldieu has the idea of hanging the rope out the window, outside of the room.
Von Rauffenstein refuses to search Boeldieu’s quarters, but instead asks for his word that no contraband is in the room. With a smirk, Boeldieu gives his word and Von Rauffenstein leaves. Boldieu didn’t lie, but all the same Von Rauffenstein’s trust of him allowed the breakout which he was trying to avoid.
This attitude that both of them are playing a game with rules that ought to be followed makes their nobility respectable, but ultimately vulnerable to the passionate nationalism and idealism which the commoners invoke.
The Common Man as the New Ideal
There are two scenes that typify commoner interaction in this movie. In the first POW camp, as the officers are being rounded up to ship off to another camp, one of them breaks out and approaches a line of new officers being brought in. He tries his hardest to explain that there is a tunnel beneath barrack seven, but the person he reaches only replies “I’m sorry, I don’t speak French.”
This would have never happened to the aristocrats- who each speak at least three languages through the course of the film. The commoner’s lack of education is made up for by their energy, though. Marechal’s love affair with the farm Widow displays the goodness and love inside the commoners which we never see in the aristocrats. Sacrifice, yes, but never warmth or love.
The Grand Illusion is an Inescapable Classic
The Grand Illusion is a fantastic film with many layers. The class divide is significant to it but doesn’t make up the whole thing. It is a movie to be watched and enjoyed many times over.
