Grande illusion, La (1937)

Contradictions and Humanity: A Gentleman's War
Introduction
Trying to make sense of the time period: 1910 to 1920, I referred to various media and formats. I began with Alfred W. Crosby's America's Forgotten Pandemic: The Influenza of 1918. Using Crosby's reportage as a starting point, I viewed 10 hours of video or a mini series based on the book by Professor Hew Strachan called The First World War (2005), Jean Renoir's The Grand Illusion (1937), and Stanley Kubrick's Paths of Glory (1957).

Alfred W. Crosby's America's Forgotten Pandemic: The Influenza of 1918
According to Crosby, in the period covering August 1918 through to March 1919, "Spanish" influenza spread worldwide. The estimated death toll, approximately 25 million; the exact number is unknown. It is argued in this book that more people died of the flu than in the First World War - hence the connection. Subsumed in this 25 million dead where an estimated 500,000 Americans. Ironically, despite the lethality of the disease, Spanish flu pandemic is all but ancient history today. In this detailed reportage by Crosby, he retells the history of the time with the Spanish influenza at the center. In the process of doing this, Crosby unravels the extent of effect on the American psyche, and makes an attempt to explain its eventual loss in our national narrative. Crosby's musing framed the events of the decade in a new light - the advantage of which is - I had no other frame of reference. I was expecting traditional history - this happened, then that happened - but I got much more.
In a later section, I will frame this perspective of the decade against another narrative that all but only mentioned this whole pandemic in one line in almost 503 minutes of video. Is it all about perspective? Why did Crosby seek to frame the year of the pandemic (and the decade) while Strachan and the documentary crew relegate it to a mere mention? The answer may not be forthcoming - but I just wanted to put it out there for consideration. Crosby is also famous for a more extensive and, I would argue, better told narrative called Ecological Imperialism.
America's Forgotten Pandemic is extensive in its range. The book is divided into 15 chapters, divided into 5 parts. In "An Abrupt Introduction to Spanish Influenza" we are introduced to the big picture regarding the phenomenon of the Spanish Influenza.
In "Spanish Influenza: The First Wave - Spring and Summer, 1918" we see Spanish Influenza advancing in stages - virulent in some places and not in others. Too soon to start taking records and too confused to care - the body count mounts but the records are in disarray. What is obvious is that there is a problem - the extent of which will never be fully documented. Spanish influenza is seen in Africa, Europe, and America.
In "The Second and Third Waves" is where we see the extent of the reportage of Crosby. Methodical to a degree that seems almost unfeeling - Crosby begins to analyze the movement of the disease and begins to introduce us to the genesis of American policy vis-à-vis epidemiology. If you just read Crosby's narrative, you would think everything happened around the disease. Even Crosby's take on the discussion between Italy's Orlando, England's George, France's Clemenceau, and America's Wilson is framed around everyone getting sick of the flu. Was it really as widespread as Crosby paints it out to be? If it was, why is it so absent in all the other narratives? Was if because the First World War and that narrative was so dominant or that it did not fit in with the New World Order narrative of Woodrow Wilson. The reportage gets specific - Crosby goes city by city.
In "Measurements, Research, Conclusions, and Confusions" we get more reportage and more indications that a definitive explanation of the cause, the spread, and the resolution of the pandemic will not be arriving. Hints, statistics and tests lead to hogs as the culprit - but nothing definitive. He asked, in Chapter 14, "Where did the flu of 1918 go?" Chapter 14 is a transition to the Afterword where even more speculation is to be had - this time more human than scientific.
In "Afterword" we get "An inquiry in the peculiarities of human memory." Yes, why were we so quick to forget this pandemic but constantly remind ourselves of the Black Plague when, "Nothing else - no infection, no war, no famine - has ever killed so many in as short a period" (Crosby 311)? Crosby speculates that the American public did not want to take away from the heroism of the First World War so they subsumed the pandemic and it's narrative "tended to be concealed within that of the war" (Crosby 320).
In the end, much like Sasha Abramsky argues in American Furies, the very banality of the issue (in Abramsky's case the prisons, in Crosby's case the pandemic) is its own worst enemy. According to Crosby, "The very nature of the disease and its epidemiological character encouraged forgetfulness in the societies it affected. The disease moved too fast, arrived, flourished, and was gone before it had any ephemeral effects on the economy and before many people had time to fully realize just how great was the danger" (Crosby 321). This case, along with lynching examination previous deliberation is proof of a nation starving for spectacle. But, harkening back to the banality issue - in the end, we just forget by what we remember.

Hew Strachan's The First World War (2005)
Is this the documentary to end all documentaries? Arguably not - but a compelling argument could be made for this. However, there were numerous documentaries about the decade and the war that I would have loved to have seen: BBC's `1914-18' and `The Great War,' the precursor of `The World at War' but I don't have all the time in the world. My sense, after having seen this comprehensive documentary - which begins with the assassination of Franz Ferdinand and ends with the Armistice and the League of Nations - I am videoed out. The range and coverage of this documentary is extensive. The series brings in the concurrent stories (of the years in question) of events happening in Russia, Arabia, and Africa. Through this video one really gets a sense of the worldwide involvement. This documentary gave an objective and impersonal view - much less missed any and all references to the 1918 pandemic. For the personal view/perspective we need to turn to Jean Renoir's The Grand Illusion, Stanley Kubrick's The Paths of Glory, and return to Alfred Crosby's America's Forgotten Pandemic: The Influenza of 1918 to round out the perspective.

Jean Renoir's The Grand Illusion (1937)
Last week, in preparation for the discussion regarding First World War and the era between 1910 to 1920 we had the pleasure to watch Jean Renoir's The Grand Illusion. My recollection is vague at best but it did leave a lasting impression on me. As a summary, the story begins with the capture of two French officers - De Boeldieu (Pierre Fresnay) and Marechal (Jean Gabin). Captain De Boeldieu is the personification of the cultured upper class. Conversely, Lieutenant Marechal, who being a mechanic prior to signing up represents the common man. The prison camp becomes a meeting place for soldiers of all classes and backgrounds. The objective is plot an escape. In the process of plotting the escape, the duo meets up with a third character - Rosenthal (Marcel Dario). Rosenthal is somewhat an odd choice but be that as it may, Renoir places this character, a son of wealthy Jewish bankers, as the fulcrum between the aristocratic De Boeldieu and the everyman Marechal.
In-class discussion revealed that the Nazis banned Renoir's The Grand Illusion and ordered all copies seized they first occupied France during the Second World War on the orders of propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels. Goebbels ordered all copies to be destroyed - luckily all copies were not and we got to see it. What was it about this movie that would capture the ire and imagination of top Nazi officials? If what was talked about in The First World War had any validity, then it was certainly discouraged to fraternize with the enemy, much less Jews (the relationship between Rosenthal and Marechal) as well as the relationship between Marechal and Elsa (Dita Parlo) the German woman with the child at the end of the story. Such miscegenation or even just fraternizing between two warring European countries would certainly have raised the ire of the Nazi high command.

Stanley Kubrick's Paths of Glory (1957)
OK, so it was not exactly The Grand Illusion but Stanley Kubrick's Paths of Glory situates war on a micro level and gave a visual sense of the First World War. Much like Renoir's classic - this is a movie about people - without agency in a world gone insane. Soldiers are seen as tools to be used by Generals who fought wars from Chateaus. Colonel Dax (Kirk Douglas) is the commander of the 701st Infantry Regiment of the French Army dug in along the Western Front's "No Man's Land." The story starts in 1916 when the Allied forces had been in need of a real break. Dax, it is revealed to us early was one of France's greatest criminal lawyer prior to the war. Idealistic and reticent, he defies General Mireau (George Macready) to the bitter end. The generals caricatured and spoken of earlier are General Broulard (Adolphe Menjou) and General Mireau. Broulard orders Mireau that he must attack the unassailable "Ant Hill" and that this space is to be captured within 48 hours. The movie is test of will between the big three: Dax, Broulard, and Mireau - and all the casualties that begin to mount based on their petty politics. An unapologetic and unsentimental, it brought home the futility of war and brought me a different perspective of the era.

Conclusion: Bringing it all together - A Better Understanding of a Critical Time in History
As each decade fused into the next, the last transitioning out into the current and the current transitioning to the next it seems like demarcating time by decades almost seems inorganic. The readings and the films - particularly the documentary - made it seem like the First World War was preparation for the Second. Whole world re-organized, a league of nations being formed, a massive pandemic leaving our purview as quickly as it came in - the United States on the verge of being a major, if not "the" major world player. Compelled to compare Crosby's works - it seemed as if with America's Forgotten Pandemic the object was less to answer the questions but merely to pose it. Absent is the certitude which marked the theories and musing of Ecological Imperialism. I feel vindicated in thinking that it is not as important to come with answers but that we have the real courage to ask the hard questions.

Miguel Llora

Essential French Cinema: Renoir's La Grande Illusion.
There's an endearing reference to The Grand Illusion in Woody Allen's [[ASIN:0792846109 Manhattan]], which I saw again recently in the theater (in its new 35mm print). That reference prompted me to revisit Renoir's antiwar masterpiece in French cinema last night. The Grand Illusion is among the earliest prison escape movies, and is recognized as one of the greatest films ever made. It tells the unforgettable story of Maréchal (Jean Gabin) and de Boieldieu (Pierre Fresnay), two French aviators who plot their escape from several World War I German prison camps. They attempt to escape from their first camp by digging a tunnel beneath the camp. Just before the tunnel is completed, they are forced to switch camps. Boeldieu and Maréchal are then relocated to one camp after another, before finally arriving in Wintersborn, where they continue to conspire about their escape, even though Wintersborn is thought to be inescapable. Erich von Stroheim plays the unforgettable Captain von Rauffenstein, who runs the camp. While the film revolves around the valiant escape attempts, Renoir also uses the film to explore human relations issues of class and race. "[Grand Illusion is] a story about human relationships," Renoir said in the 1960s. "I am sure that such a question is so important today that if we don't solve it, we will just have to say `goodbye' to our beautiful world."

The Criterion edition of Renoir's film includes a newly restored digital transfer created from the long-lost camera negative, new and improved English subtitle translation, a rare theatrical trailer in which Jean Renoir discusses both Grand Illusion and his personal war experiences, an audio essay by film historian Peter Cowie, archival radio presentation: Renoir and Erich von Stroheim accept Grand Illusion's Best Foreign Film honors at the 1938 New York Film Critics Awards, press book excerpts: Renoir's letter "to the projectionist," cast bios, an essay on Renoir by von Stroheim, and essays about the film's title and recently recovered camera negative.

G. Merritt

Classic, incomparable (anti-) war film.
This is simply one of the greatest films EVER made. Jean Gabin and Eric von Stroheim and the rest of the cast are priceless. Script and story are brilliant. Direction is masterful. What more can one say? Don't miss it!!