Le Grande Illusion

Captain de Boeldieu proudly stands his ground, refusing to submit to the will of his captor to return to the clutches of the German Army. Forsaking privilege and class respect he condemns himself to death for the sake of his fellow French officers, Bourgeoise and Proletariot. The Grande illusion is a gripping tale of camaraderie and the fall of the Aristocracy.

Through the use of a series of German officer camps as the primary setting for

much of the movie Renoir insures that all of the characters stand on an equal ground of honor and respect. The ultimate goal of escape brings them together past even ranking lines, all of th

em command the mutual respect that comes from national pride and the desire for liberty. Renoir is asking the cutting question of the time, "whether the essence of social life is not but artifice and theatre." (Pendergast 244) His communist party affiliation and radical philosophy are clearly on display in the allegory of the film that professes the benefits of mutual aid and the dissolution of social divisions. (Bergstrom 457) The evil conservative Captain von Rauffenstein as played by the iconic Erich von Stronheim is an antagonist straight from early 20

th century leftist propaganda. His authoritarian traditionalist approach is being slowly undermined by the new opportunities afforded to the lower classes. As his grip on power and dominance over society's hierarchy he begins to lash out against those who are supp

orting the dissolution of the rigid class structure, though they lie within the confine

s of his own class. Tradition makes him a reluctant antagonist, yet at the end he still

shoots the valiant Boeldieu, in effect hastening the aristocracy's impending demise.

The final episode of the film centers around an exploration of the pastoral promise, a dream of paradise in the provinces held dear to the hearts of many in the transitional period to modernist society. The working-class officer Marechal falls in love with the lovely German farm wife, a symbol of simple living and romance. In her lives the temptation of forgetting the struggle for freedom embodied in French military combat in the Great War and

remain content with an agrarian life stye. In the end, however, the protagonists choose to relinquish this dream until their dream of an end to the oppression of the upper classes has been concluded.

Works Cited

Bergstrom, Janet. "Jean Renoir's Return to France."Poetics Today. 17.3 (1996): 457. Print.

Prendergast, Christopher. "Cinema Sociology: Cultivating the Sociological Imagination through Popular Film." Teaching Sociology. 14.4 (1986): 243-248. Print.

Images From

Kevin, Hagopian. "The Grand Illusion." New York State Writers Institute. State University of New York, n.d. Web. 27 Oct 2010. .

Nighthawk4486, . "The Year in FIlm: 1938." News from the Boston Becks. 02 oct 2009. Web. 27 Oct 2010. .