La Grande Illusion (1937)

Directed by Jean Renoir. Starring Jean Gabin, Marcel Dalio, Erich von Stroheim, Pierre Fresnay, Dita Parlo, Julien Carette, Gaston Modot, Werner Florian.

Renoir’s masterful anti-war film (without any scenes set on or near a battlefield) demonstrating the futility of war and the collapse of the European “old guard”: the great lie of aristocracy replaced by the terrible truth of nationalism. Hardship and breakthrough, tragedy and triumph; they each await French officers Gabin and Dalio after getting shot down during a reconnaissance mission and being taken to a P.O.W. camp, and later, a mountain fortress in the Alps commanded by the ace who shot them down, Major von Rauffenstein (von Stroheim, in a tremendous supporting performance). Intelligent and emotional without drifting too far into cerebral or sentimental territory, the idealism they nurture, their response to sacrifice, the love that Gabin shares with a German woman, episodes of humor and heartbreak—all of it comes together eloquently without a whiff of manipulation to leave a lasting impact. Became the first foreign-language film to be nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture, the only nomination it received.

98/100