starring Jean-Pierre Cassell
Claude Brasseur , Claude Rich
More than 20 years after La Grande Illusion caused a furore among Europe's militarists, Jean Renoir made a second anti-war film, carrying his argument still further. Set, like its predecessor. in a prison camp, this film depicts the soldier's death in individual, humanist terms. The hero is not Just against being killed by 'the enemy '-he is also fighting his own side who seem equally bent on his destruction.
Interviewed by the Germans after France's capitulation in 1940, the corporal determines to escape and return to France, with or without the help of his friends. The escape part seems relatively easy - it's the staying free that proves a problem.
Written and directed by JEAN RENOIR