How great was that escape?

Rating: 6/10 (20 December 2011)

There's one thing you have to ask yourself about The Great Escape. That is whether that escape actually was so great. Was all the effort worth it? The film tells the more or less true story of British prisoners in a World War II German POW camp. The prisoners considered it their duty to try and escape, to confound and harass the enemy. But what would it take to consider the operation a success? The plan was to bust out 250 prisoners. Sounds great. But it wasn't as simple as digging a tunnel and popping up on the other side of the fence a free man. Once you exit the tunnel you're in Nazi Germany with the Gestapo hot on your heels. For all the incredibly hard work that went into the digging of the tunnel getting out of the camp was always going to be the easy part. Getting out of Germany was the hard part. And for all the meticulous planning that went into that part of the operation there was always the sense that might be a hill too high to climb. And if that effort failed the consequences would be dire. Was it all worth it? Was it really such a great escape after all?
For as much as the men found it their duty to attempt to escape the fact was that they weren't really that bad off as prisoners. The camp in which they were imprisoned was not the typical Nazi house of horrors you would expect. The prisoners were actually treated pretty well. The camp commandant seemed rather sympathetic to their plight. Should they escape the Gestapo who would be responsible for hunting them down would be much less sympathetic. But escape they must decide the prisoners. And thus begins a rather incredible effort. It's so much more than digging a tunnel. Everyone had a job to do and everyone did it well. You can question whether the prisoners really should have tried to escape in the first place but there is no denying that once they set their mind to it the effort they put in was remarkable. It was always going to be an overly ambitious plan. 250 men coming out of the tunnel and finding their way to freedom? Never going to happen. What would constitute success? Everyone can have their own opinion on that. But it is hard to see how whatever could be gained was worth what in the end could be lost.
So maybe the escape itself wasn't as great as we, or certainly the escapees themselves, would have hoped. But what about the movie? Again, a noble effort but not as great as you'd hope. One problem comes with Hollywood getting its hands on a true-life story and changing it to suit the needs of Hollywood. Enter Steve McQueen because an American audience demands an American star. Even if in the true story there really was no such person as McQueen's Captain Hilts. Even if in the real history all the Americans had already been moved out of the camp by the time the escape happened, let's send James Garner through the tunnel too. Garner's character at least blends into the story well. McQueen on the other hand seems to be acting in his own little movie. All the effort to give the big American star something to do, to give him some big dramatic moments detracts from the film. The character of Hilts is portrayed as the big hero. The real heroes of the story get the short shrift. Richard Attenborough, playing the leader of the escape efforts, gets plenty of screen time. But so many other characters who seemingly had a lot to offer get pushed into the background as the Steve McQueen show plays out. A shame. It's not that McQueen gives a bad performance because he surely doesn't. It's just that his character was forced into the movie and never quite fits. Not to mention the fact that all the time spent with McQueen stretches out the running time of an already notably long film. With all that went into the preparations for the escape this was always going to be a long one. Toss the character of Hilts into the mix and you've got a movie which goes on so long that it often struggles to maintain its momentum. But at least you know you have the escape to look forward to and when it comes it is undeniably dramatic. And then the tension really kicks in. What will be the ultimate fate for all of these brave men? The movie's ending packs an emotional wallop. Ultimately, and unfortunately, it comes back to McQueen. He gets the show-off motorcycle ride he demanded. And his character gets the last word so to speak. Which is a shame because the real story provided more than enough real heroes to choose from. Add it all up and this is a movie which had the potential to be great. But it comes up a few yards short.