Overrated

Rating: 8/10 (11 September 2008)

Jean Renoir's 1937 black and white film, Grand Illusion (La Grande Illusion), is often bandied about with Citizen Kane on the list of all time great films, but unlike that film, Grand Illusion was a commercial and critical sensation from its initial release. While both are arguably great films, neither is really within sniffing distance of any mythic top spot. Both have flaws, but Grand Illusion has more flaws than Citizen Kane and is clearly the lesser film, although it's still certainly a very good film. It was written by Renoir- son of the famed Impressionist painter Auguste Renoir, and Charles Spaak, based upon Renoir's own adventures as a World War One Flyboy, and in many ways is well ahead of Hollywood films of that era, in terms of dealing with life and the way common people really spoke. In fact, it was one of the earliest films to have its characters all speak in their native tongues, and its influence upon later prison camp escape movies, such as The Great Escape, is manifest. That said, after a strong start, the film meanders for a while until the actual escape, and sort of meekly limps to a schmaltzy end. Simply put, Renoir had no real way to end the film memorably, and admittedly improvising the ending. While Grand Illusion is not be the masterpiece that it is claimed to be, for its maudlin score, sketchy screenplay, and anomic ending are its greatest flaws, it is certainly a good film worth pondering. The thing that most people ponder about is the film's title. What exactly is the grand, or great- in French, illusion? Some have asserted it's the illusion of class, or nationality, that those things are real, or that war is noble, or can be gentlemanly. Some critics claim it was the idea that the Great War was The War To End All Wars, or that real love and happiness are possible in this world. All of these interpretations are correct, yet all of them are wrong, as the film is about none, yet all, of those things. It is like the elephant and seven blind men, and viewers will find their own meanings in the work and its title. Nor is it simply a film about escaping a prison camp, nor about jingoistic politics, nor even an essay on the collapse of the Old World Order of Europe. It is, perhaps, best viewed not as a record of what really was, but what should have been, and what might be. In this way it reminds me of the British film Things To Come, by William Cameron Menzies, based upon the H.G. Wells novel. While that film is set in the now anachronistic 'distant future' of the 21st Century, it has much in common with Grand Illusion, such as the ends of both films showing men slogging on through the coldness of life simply because they are men. Such commonalities, between men or works of art, are what give Grand Illusion its staying power, despite its manifest flaws. It may not be the deepest film ever made, and may not even be the best war film ever made, but it can properly be considered a classic, if only by some de facto 'grandfather clause' for such works of art. It may not be what Renoir intended, but intent in the arts means nothing, only reality does, and Grand Illusion's is better than most.