A group of French soldiers, including the patrician Captain de Boeldieu (Pierre Fresnay) and the working-class Lieutenant Maréchal (Jean Gabin), grapple with their own class differences after being captured and held in a World War I German prison camp.
Following several escape attempts, the men are transferred to a high-security fortress where they must concoct a plan to escape beneath the watchful eye of aristocratic German officer von Rauffenstein (Erich von Stroheim), who has formed an unexpected bond with de Boeldieu.
This is a masterful anti-war statement, bringing humane insight and an undercurrent of ironic humour to an unusual relationship between captor and captive.
As Orson Welles said: “If I had to save only one film in the world, it would be ‘La Grande Illusion”.
