Rhapsodies

Continuing my world war I theme, I watched French world war I films. Considering France was one of the countries hardest hit by the war, l thought that perspective would be especially interesting.

The first film on my list, Jean Renoir’s Grand Ilusion, tells the story of two French pilots who are shot down during a reconnaissancemission. They are taken to a POW camp where they wait for their chance to escape, or for the war to end, whichever comes first.
This was a wonderful film that looks at human nature, the end of an era and how war pulls away all illusions.

The next film on my list Jean-Pierre Jeunet‘s A Very Long Engagement. Tells the story of Five soldiers sentenced to death for self mutilation. However rather than being executed, they out of the trenches into no man’s land where they will either freeze, starve or get shot by the Germans

Because of the nature of their deaths, it is unclear whether all of them died or not. Because of this, Mathilda,Audrey Tautou, one of the solders’ fiancee, begins an investigation to find him.

When I heard that there was a film by one of my favorite directors I hadn’t heard of or seen, I knew I had to correct that.
This was a great film that was up to Jeunet’s usual standards as a director. The one thing I’d nitpic about is I found a strange disconnect between Jeunet’s whimsical style and the extremely serious subject matter.