Great film, but read the book too...

Rating: 10/10 (8 October 2008)

The Great Escape is one of the great action films of all time. The rousing martial score by Elmer Bernstein, the perfect cast of stars and stalwart supporting actors, the literate script by James Clavell, the taut direction by John Sturges... it all works together to create a seamless cinematic experience. However, it's well worth considering the realities underlying the fiction, because they can only deepen our appreciation for both. Some aspects of the film that seem improbable are easily explained; other aspects that are glossed over in the film reveal surprising additional depths.
1. First, as others have pointed out, the details of the prisoners' shenanigans and of the escape -- especially the most unbelievable ones -- are absolutely true. German POW camps, largely as a result of the Geneva Convention, were a sort of world apart, with rules slanted surprisingly in favor of the prisoners. Many of their most outrageous escapades are actually omitted in the film.
2. Subtly missing on screen is a sense of what camp life was really like on a day to day basis. There's no room in this fast-paced film to represent the dreadful tedium of years spent in the same wooden shack, on short rations. Years with no hope of parole, since the prisoners didn't know, as we now do, when the war might end. This helps explain their nigh-suicidal devotion to escape; these were men of action, cooped up endlessly with absolutely nothing else to do but plot to outwit their jailors.
3. Also missing is a clear image of relations between prisoners and guards. By March, 1944, the Germans were living on very tight rations -- boiled potatoes and cabbage sort of stuff. Whereas the prisoners, while not exactly fat and happy, were receiving Red Cross goodies that no one in Germany had even dared dream about for years. This is hinted at, in the bribery that James Garner is able to conduct. But the dispirited state of mind of the Germans is not shown in any depth. According to multiple accounts, many guards were all too happy to collaborate with the prisoners, based on sheer economic pressure.
4. On the other hand, it's not made clear just what the prisoners were up against. It's easy to get the impression that this was some sort of Hogan's Heroes resort, with the Germans oblivious to obvious conspiracies. Hardly! The 'ferrets' were guards who had the free run of the camp. They could literally pop in on any prisoner activity, at any time, any place. We see this happening once or twice in the film, but the implications aren't fully suggested. These were men with zero privacy; everything they did was subject to continuous scrutiny.
5. The most obvious distortion, of course, is inclusion of Americans as major players in the escape. This was mainly a British camp and the Great Escape is fundamentally a British story. In fact, Richard Attenborough's character is the only one readily identifiable as a real person -- the amazing Roger Bushell. There's no point getting hung up on this bit of creative license; Sturges and Clavell have done a brilliant job of streamlining the story and spicing it up with star power. But in appreciating this film, we should realize which is reality and which is clever fiction.
6. Finally, a word on the retribution meted out by the Germans. Yes, their treatment of the recaptured escapees was an atrocity. In fact, not mentioned in the film, it's been alleged that the order came directly from Hitler himself. On the other hand, what is not mentioned is that prior to the Great Escape prisoners had been repeatedly warned that breakouts were no longer going to be treated leniently. This is an important point. It makes the prisoners' actions even more heroic -- and also makes the Germans' apparent over-reaction more understandable (if not forgivable).
What's more, even within the logic of the film, it has to be understood that these POWs really did cross the line from escapee to spy. Big X specifically says that his purpose is to set up a whole "second front." By intent, therefore, this is not a mere escape; it's a calculated attempt to disrupt the German war machine, conducted by men out of uniform. That's more or less the dictionary definition of espionage, for which summary execution has long been the standard remedy. (Steve McQueen flashes his officer's bars at the end, emphasizing the point. It's a moment that I didn't understand at all the first few times I saw the film.)
None of this in any way excuses the insane brutality of war -- but it does make the events depicted in this great film somewhat more comprehensible. History is more fascinating than fiction exactly because of its greater depth. The upshot being that anyone who's enjoyed the film really should seek out the book by Paul Brickhill. Not to mention other books covering the same story, such as Alan Burgess' excellent The Longest Tunnel. There's a lot more to this true story than can fit in any one film, even one as beautifully constructed as The Great Escape.