Our Personal Wars

Rating: 9/10 (12 March 2006)

In the film "La Grande Illusion" World War I is only depicted as an underlying force in the storyline. There are no scenes of actual battle, and no dialogue about what the purpose of the war is. There are three main characters in the film: the aristocrat Captain De Boeldieu, the commoner mechanic Lieutenant Marechal, and the upper/middle-class Lieutenant Rosenthal. The primary focus of the film is on their personal relationships and situation. When the war does come into view for the characters it is only when one side is celebrating a victory while hearing distant news of the events unfolding. The film conveys that even the elite cannot escape war, and that the ways of life and class divisions throughout the world differ very little. In the prison camps people from of all classes come together. The only thing that really separates any of the different people is the fact their countries are at war with one another. When Captain De Boeldieu stages a diversion to help the two lower-class Lieutenants escape from the prison the German official seems shocked that Captain De Boeldieu would even want to leave seeing as how they relate in the fact they both come from an aristocratic background. "La Grande Illusion" doesn't present a definite message against war or against anything. It is fair to all its characters whether they are German, French, upper-class, lower class, et cetera. The film doesn't focus on a particular perspective; it follows all its characters with a non-judgmental sympathy. There are no villains or heroes in the film, and all the characters are able to relate on some level because of the universality of the war. Even though the people may speak a different language, or otherwise have lived a completely different way of life before the war because of the war they are brought together and now have the same concerns and a newly developed respect for one another. An upper-class French Captain is willing to die to help two non-aristocratic French Lieutenants escape from the German prison camp and the French Captain is able to forgive the German official who shoots him. A German woman helps the two French Lieutenants hide from the German search parties sent looking to kill or recapture them and the three form a close relationship despite the fact they cannot completely speak one another's language. The upper/middle class Lieutenant Rosenthal shares the food packages sent by his family with the other lower-class prisoners. The French invite the Germans to a theatrical performance they are putting on despite the fact that there is news of an important advance made by the German army against the French. Through all the barriers of class, nationality, and language the characters can all relate to one another, and they all share a respect for one another. It can be assumed that the reason for the war was the fact that those barriers existed and were taken seriously in the first place. Each individual doesn't necessarily have a place in the broad-scope of World War I, but each character does have their own struggle with the situation the war has put them in, and to survive they learn stop separating themselves from others based on the sort of divisions that started the war to begin with. Despite this message ironically in the end Marechal and Rosenthal survive being within sight of the German military looking to kill them by simply crossing the non-distinct artificial boarder to the neutral territory of Sweden.