La Grande Illusion

Jean Renoir's La Grande Illusion from 1937 make's many film critics' Greatest Films of All Time list, and it's easy to see why.

Pierre Fresnay

I watched it for the first time last week and was very impressed, not to mention surprised.
For a film set in the POW camps of WWI, I was not expecting the humour and cheekiness that crops up in the narrative amidst the pain, loneliness and stagnation of a soldier's life. I have seen this display of cheekiness in characters in the only other Renoir film I've watched, the great La regle du jeu (The Rules of the Game) made two years after - so I guess I shouldn't be surprised.

Jean Gabin and Marcel Dalio

La Grande Illusion displays, and calls for, the unity and comradeship of people across class, religious, political and racial divides - soldiers and non-soldiers alike.

Dita Parlo and Jean Gabin

Erich von Stroheim and Pierre Fresnay

It's a war film unlike any other - surprising, beautiful, and deeply humanist.
Highly recommended.