Essay: ‘La Grande Illusion’ (film)

‘La Grande Illusion’ is a film of astounding humanity whose statement is both optimistic and pessimistic
The film is about a story of people lost in a heartbreaking journey that is war and class division, based for the establishment of the sympathies, although some critics believe that this rhetoric turns false.
The objective of this essay is to discuss about despite its mysteriousness questions that ‘La Grande Illusion is regarded as one of the greatest films on war ever produced.
In fact, the film came out of the anti-war tradition films and the exploration of class loyalties and transcending friendship.
La Grande Illusion is a masterpiece, often thought of by critics as one of the best success stories of French cinema and was placed in a category of being one of the greatest, most prominent films ever made.
It has been reported by various sources that Adolph Hitler’s minister of propaganda, Joseph Goebbels had enough admiration and respect for Jean Renoir to call him and label the film “Cinematic enemy no. 1”. It is a classic film based on the First World War and is about two French officers, one Captain De Boeldieu and Lieutenant Marechal who are captured during the Great War and made to become prisoners who both eventually decide and make it a mission to get away from the sticky situation they have been placed in. When it was eventually released, it had the required effect by shocking and exciting the targeted audience.
Despite it being referred to as a “war film”, it can be said that La Grande Illusion does not consistently display the traditional features and effects of a film based on the subject of war for the most part.
The Great Illusion as it is known in English manages to showcase a major comedic side to what may seem like a somehow dramatic and heartbreaking plot. One certain question that is genuinely asked when self-reviewing the motion picture tends to be, is the film pacifist? War is clearly an obvious statement and something that is not to be questioned but the fact is, that the interpersonal relations in the story are mostly courteous. There is very little tension to describe of and it seems to be more a case of humanity. The main pacifism message of La Grande Illusion was that the enemy nations of France and Germany shouldn’t fight each other and have no logical reason to. This managed to come during a period of time where people were being warned about a possible fascist threat coming their way presumably from the rising mighty nation of West Germany under the Nazi Influence but it could not be explained in a very detailed way as Fascism wasn’t in full existence and effect during world war one. Jean Renoir’s artistic answer is different from others but it is also open, in fact it does not always straightforward meaning to it. Among the other films released in France during the same time period, that list includes pretty notable films such as The Blood of a Poet, L’arlesienne, Le chemin du paradis and Under the Roofs of Paris. The reason for why La Grande Illusion separates itself from the other films also made and released in the 1930’s is how highly-coveted it was by critics and fans. Another reason was also because of the film reviews received from the various critics who had mentioned its complex reception history as one of the film’s most striking things, not to mention the impact the film had on the audience it was targeting. To myself, La Grande Illusion has a more peaceful approach without much portrayal of war and to some, War may just be the actual illusion when it comes down to the subject of the film. Grand means something that is great, magnificent and stands out in the style it has or the size it stands at. An illusion on one hand means being deceived by a false perception or belief and on the other, it symbols the perception of reality that is an error.
When the reader is researching about this film, he or she will be misled to believe that it is all about war, battles and extreme violence since that is the genre it’s been labelled as. But when you viewer finally is able to watch The Great/Grand Illusion he or she will eventually see that it’s not all it is said to be referring to genre and category it has been placed in within the industry of film. Despite the fact that war is a situation and topic that is discussed about in every days of our lives, La Grande Illusion simply shows us that it is nothing but an illusion and shows somewhat of a jollier, positive, brighter setting than usual among the group of soldiers who have been captured to become prisoners of war. Along with social class and nationalism, a big theme in which the film is built around is “cross dressing”. The viewer will become aware of an instance in which Lieutenant Marechal, a French aristocrat in the story tries to use three different escape tactics to get out of being kept as a prisoner. On the three occasions, he dresses up as a sweeper of chimneys, a German Soldier and lastly as a woman. Speaking on the subject of cross-dressing, as the story goes on you will notice many of the soldier’s passion for dressing up as women especially to perform in front of a crowd and the reason for why I believe that this event occurred is because they were used to having a female partner or wife back home and now because they were at war during that present time, they missed having that around them so they had ended up cross-dressing as a means to be able to make themselves feel more comfortable in their surroundings and to be in the women’s shoes as a way to be closer to the ones they already have deep affection for. One may be able to say that this itself is also an illusion because by dressing like the other gender, there is a deception and a false perception to reality in thinking cross-dressing is a way to get close to their female companions.
The art of cross-dressing almost comes off as an illusion to when the reader is telling the tale. In many ways, La Grande Illusion showcases Jean Renoir’s major infatuation with arts and theatre acts due to the piano-playing and costume wearing, dancing men. At the end of the performance, the French national anthem is played and sang by every person within the performance theatre and that shows a huge display of nationalism and brings the people French nationality together and sends a strong message to the audience that despite everything “we stand strong and nothing can break us apart”. Personally, Renoir’s ability to be both versatile and stay on the same genre of subject by making it more visual and entertaining is what gave him major success internationally during the 1930’s with films such as La Regle Du Jeu, La Bete Humaine and other films to do with the popular front’s movement including, Life Belongs To Us and La Marseillaise.