Exploring the Strategy of a POW Prison Break

Rating: 7/10 (3 March 2012)

This cool little movie is based upon the true story of a large number of World War II Prisoners of War who escaped from a Luftwaffe POW camp in the middle of Germany. The camp was set up to house those prisoners that proved to be a problem because they kept on trying to escape and this camp was supposed to be escape proof. As soon as the prisoners arrived though they began to look for ways to escape and even found some. The focus of the escape though is through one colonel who decides that if he can break 200 men out of the camp then it will be a severe hindrance to the German war effort.
The colonel is confronted by the Commandant and he is asked not to escape but the reply is that it is the prisoner's duty to escape. Escaping prisoners tie up soldiers that could be used in the front: not only must they be guarded but more must be sent out to round up prisoners that have escaped. Thus if 200 prisoners escape and all go their own way then the Germans are going to have to implement an enormous amount of manpower to recapture them. Ideally they would simply take no prisoners, but such actions are against the Geneva convention. Even so, for all of their brutality, it is surprising that the Nazi's did actually take prisoners. The conclusion to the conversation is that the commandant wants the prisoners to comply but because the prisoners are the enemy then it is their duty to escape.
I liked the movie: it was tense but it was also funny. Steve McQueen's character was the one that added a lot of life to the movie. He was the one that came up with all of the bright ideas to escape, and the one that was always caught and put into the cooler. He actually seemed to spend more time in the cooler than out of it.
The movie also portrayed the brutality of the Germans. Even though they did seem to look after the prisoners of War, the ones that continually escaped were simply gunned down by the Gestapo. They had become sick of this escaping POW's so they warned them that if they were caught again then they would be shot. The Gestapo made that promise and they kept it. It still seems very harsh, but this was a war and no matter what the Geneva convention says, there is no rules in war and the allies were just as brutal as the German's were.
The movie was tense especially in the scene where they discover the tunnel, and even when they are escaping and people begin to panic. You are wanting them all to get out, but this is not going to happen. One must remember that this is real life and not some ideal Hollywood creation. As such not everybody was going to escape. Even more so, from 76 escapees, 50 were killed and a small number were captured. Only 3 were shown escaping, one of them being an Australian.