Word: renoirs
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1990-1999
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
Toted as the seminal World War I movie, Grand Illusion often garnishes critical accolades for its anti-war message as well as Renoir's masterful use of landscape shots. In 1938, a year after its release, the film was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Picture, the first foreign film ever to receive this honor. Joseph Goebbles, the Nazi propaganda chief, called the film "Cinematic Public Enemy No. 1." Sadly enough, after another world war, the Vietnam War and the melange of violence at home, Grand Illusion no longer has the sense of anti-war urgency that it possessed...
...This obvious attempt to inject class is not only a shadow of Renoir's leftist leanings, but it also serves to set the grounding for the film's climax. The '90s viewer is accustomed to images of war camps populated with emaciated prisoners living in horrible conditions. Thus, Renoir's attempt to convey a POW camp is incredibly dated...
...viewer must remember that Renoir filmed this before concentration camps and Vietnam POW camps, when war had a distinct code of morality and enemy soldiers had a distant respect for each other's bravery...
...biggest stretch for the postmodern viewer is Renoir's attempt to convey the necessity of escape from the prison camp. For a jaded moviegoer, life in the camps does not appear quite so horrible. The prisoners are isolated from the trenches and the continuous threat of death, are well fed and have each other's company...
...Renoir asks us to make the philosophical jump to acknowledge that capture of any form is contrary to the human spirit. His mission fails, especially after the four are transferred to a tighter security prison in the heart of Germany. The prison is a fabulous castle placed in the German countryside. The train-ride through the European backwoods creates nostalgia for the innocence and beauty Europe held before World War II. Claude Renoir, the cameraperson for this film, does an excellent job capturing a sense of movement and depth, especially given the crude technology he had at his disposal...