Thanks to the Fifty

Rating: 7/10 (16 May 2005)

The movie dramatizes the true story of a great escape of POW's from the Stalag Luft III camp in Upper Silesia, today Poland, during WW II. The script was written by James Clavell (Shogun, Tai-Pan) based on a novel by Paul Brickhill. The plot of the film is a little bit romanticized but nevertheless truly to the facts, and so it is a homage to the airmen cruelly executed by the Nazis. The movie is largely benefited of the participation of a set of known actors which do a very good job. The director John Sturges sets a light tone, with a lot of humor, smoothing the film, considering the cruel destiny of the fugitives. We can divide the movie in two parts. On the first, we see how the escape is planned and all the details of the preparation of a such a huge escape are presented: how to build the tunnels, the forgery of the documents, the making of the civil clothes, and so on. On the second part, we see how the fugitives try to get to a neutral country and the different approaches tried for each one: robbing a motorcycle and running to the frontier, traveling by train to France, going on foot sneaking through the fields, etc. Finally, I think that the scene of the execution of the 50 fugitives chosen is particularly touching and we feel grateful to the courage of these men, who fought the Nazis till the end.