Joshua Van Middlesworth
CS 491
March 06, 2003
The movie I recommend for you to see is Jean Renoir’s picture La grande Illusion. This supposed war film has no scenes of war, no depictions of grand carnage, nor any fighting scenes. As an American, I expect war films to tell the story of conflict using violence, however, La grande Illusion has none. Instead, Jean Renoir’s picture tells the story of war using the personal interaction of the combatants. Renoir’s focus on people rather then events softens the edges of war and portrays it not as an event or action, but as the mere extension of our natural curiosity.
Renoir’s focus on the curiosities that lead to war begins early in the film with the initial meeting of the films two major characters De Boeldieu and Marechal. De Boeldieu is at the front on a mission for Division Head quarters. He is there to ask Marechal about a “gray smudge” on an aerial photo. There is some guessing as to the actual cause of the “gray smudge”; unfortunately, no definite conclusion is reached. De Boeldieu cannot allow the origins of the curios spot on the photo to remain unknown. He orders Marechal to arrange another over flight. During the flight, the two officers are shot down and captured; however, it is their motivation for the flight and not the actual flight itself that is important. They aren’t putting their lives in danger to evaluate a known treat; they are looking for the ever-elusive new treat which forever lies underneath the fog.
The portrayal of soldiers as men driven by curiosity rather then hatred is not limited to the French troops in the film. The films surreal villain, Von Rauffenstein, is also an interesting character. It is Von Rauffenstein who shots down De Boeldieu and Marechal’s plane. After he shoots down the plane, he is very excited. He enters his squadron headquarters, tells one of the soldiers to find the occupants of the planes, and, if they are officers, invite them to lunch. Von Rauffenstein then begins to plan an elaborate lunch with drinks of special “fruit punch”. This behavior seems odd for a soldier, but Von Rauffenstein isn’t a soldier he is a fighter pilot, a hunter. Hunters unlike soldiers do not kill for the sake of the kill. Like artists, photographers, or onlookers; hunters desire a closer look at their prey. They are driven by morbid curiosity as well as hunger and duty. Von Rauffenstein is curious about his “brave enemy”. Instead of painting them, or photographing them, or merely observing them, he shots them down and pursues conversation.
Conversation is often the best remedy for curiosity. Renoir shows how preventing communications between various European countries and their peoples was an important part of WWI in two very early scenes at a prison camp. During De Boeldieu and Marechal initial processing into the camp they are read a series of camp rules. The last prohibited action is talking with the sentries. This rule is punctuated with a, “Very strictly forbidden” comment from the commandant instead of the normal, “strictly forbidden” which the other rules received. Then to further stress the importance of communication Marechal looks to De Boeldieu and says, in very broken German, “very strictly forbidden”.
Following Marechal’s commit, there is a transition followed by two prisoners of war talking with each other. One is Russian and the other is French. The Russian P.O.W. is explaining to his fellow French P.O.W. the similarities of the Russian language to Latin. The attempt to teach the Frenchmen to speak Russian establishes the premise for the rest of the picture. The remainder of the film is focused on how to satisfy our natural curiosity without war, through consideration and communication. It is because the film deals with the elusive causes of war and not war itself that I recommend it to you and anyone willing to locate a copy.
