Retrospective Programming a Hallmark of the Toronto Jewish Film Festival (TJFF 2016) Review By Greg Klymkiw of Jean Renoir's LA GRANDE ILLUSION, featuring famed French-Jewish actor Dalio in the role of a nouveau riche Jewish P.O.W. Film available for more detailed scrutiny on the magnificent O.O.P. Criterion Collection DVD replete with extras.

Posters for La Grande Illusion and images of fellow German P.O.W. camp escapees Jean Gabin and Marcel Dalio.

Heritage Cinema, Retrospective Programming:
Important Hallmarks of the Extremely Vital
Toronto Jewish Film Festival (TJFF)

2016 Edition of TJFF Unravels Gems
Reflecting Jewish Themes, Talent and Culture
Greg Klymkiw reviews Jean Renoir's masterpiece:

Germans will be Germans.
Luckily, the French will always be the French.

La Grande Illusion (1937)
Dir. Jean Renoir
Scr. Renoir & Charles Spaak
Starring: Jean Gabin, Marcel Dalio, Erich Von Stroheim, Pierre Fresnay,
Dita Parlo, Julien Carette, Gaston Modot, Jean Dasté, Georges Péclet

Review By Greg Klymkiw

La Grande Illusion might be the best film about the Great War ever made. Such a proclamation doesn't come lightly since there are a fine handful of WWI pictures vying for this accolade. King Vidor's The Big Parade, Lewis Milestone's All Quiet On The Western Front, Frank Borzage's A Farewell To Arms, Edmund Goulding's The Dawn Patrol, Powell/Pressburger's The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp, Stanley Kubrick's Paths of Glory and Peter Weir's Gallipoli are all first-rate explorations of the bloodiest, meanest war of the 20th Century. All are replete with filmmaking artistry of the highest order and infused with the kind of emotional depth charges guaranteed to explode one's tear ducts into shards of salty droplets of emotion.

But no, Jean Renoir wins hands down from my perspective.

Well ahead of its time Renoir's masterpiece presents a positive antidote to Europe's rampant antisemitism with the character of Rosenthal (played by immortal French-Jewish actor Dalio), a nouveau riche Jewish P.O.W. who shares his family's care packages of food and drink with his fellow prisoners (no matter what their class, station or rank).

French POWs Amuse Themselves Amongst the Hun.

Furthermore, Renoir crafts a fascinating, often funny and richly moving portrait of a class system on its last legs. It's this very approach which, unlike other war films, is what makes it so brilliant and ahead of its time, but in many ways, makes it one of the most stirring anti-war films of cinema history. ("Class" is often touched upon in WWI pictures, but here, it is everything, and as such contributes to the picture's lasting value.)

The screenplay by Renoir and Charles Spaak, tells the story of a group of allied soldiers incarcerated in the German prisoner of war camps of World War I. This is not the typical reflection of concentration camps since WWI occurred during the waning days of aristocratic rule when even Germans exercised a certain degree of compassion and restraint in the treatment of its prisoners.

The film focuses primarily upon Lieutenant Maréchal (the always dashing French leading man Jean Gabin), a simple car mechanic in real life who is in the previously unthinkable position of an officer and a gentleman. In fact, it is Maréchal's basic, down-home pragmatism which allows him to be a leader within the prison system and most importantly, provides the inspiration to never give up the effort to seek escape so prisoners can rejoin their comrades in the fight against the Hun.

Death be not proud? Or is it?

Captain de Boeldieu (Pierre Fresnay) is, amongst the POWs, pure aristocracy, but he too, like the Jewish nouveau riche Rosenthal, knows that in war, his place is with his fellow prisoners. He is, however, allowed to have his cake and eat it too when Captain von Rauffenstein (the great Erich von Stroheim), the ultra-aristocratic commandant on the German side, welcomes him for fine spirits and lively conversation - a discourse which leads to both men equally lamenting, yet accepting the fact that this is the war in which the "ruling" class is on its way out.

Their friendship takes on some of the more moving and heartbreaking elements and events of the film.

Renoir presents both sides of the coin to the POWs' incarceration. The film shares a magnificent staged entertainment amongst the men, stirring escape planning and a rousing rendition of "La Marseillaise" which offers an equal dose of soul-stirring tears to the similar moment years later in Michael Curtiz's Casablanca.

German Prisons Do Not All Provide Fun and Games.

On the flip side, Renoir does not shy away from the brutality of the German captors (outside of von Rauffenstein's decidedly humanitarian approach to wartime prison administration), nor the horrific irony of outgoing French soldiers unable to give instructions to the incoming English-speaking prisoners of where the escape tunnel has been started due to language barriers and, in spite of the film's ahead-of-its-time portrait of a major Jewish character, Renoir also exposes the racism amongst the soldier-prisoners with respect to a Black prisoner who can ultimately only speak to himself, in hopes that someone might listen and converse with him.

As this is a prison picture, there is an escape, and it is here where Renoir outdoes himself in terms of both the suspense and the horrifying result of a character least likely to sacrifice himself as well as a character least-wanting to impart a death bullet. Get out thy handkerchiefs, folks. The death of class a la Renoir allows only for an aristocrat to welcome death at the hands of an aristocrat.

Running into yummy Dita Parlo on the run not a bad deal.

Renoir even provides deep romance (beyond that of men linked in common causes in war) and we're introduced to the lovely Dita Parlo (from Jean Vigo's L'Atalante) as a saviour and love interest. Renoir does allow for a certain sentimentality here ("sentimentality" NOT being a dirty word), but as is his wont, the master filmmaker yanks this happiness from all concerned (including us, the audience).

Finally, there is one of the great endings in film history - two men, one a mechanic, the other a Jew - both dotted together, dwarfed by the white snow of Switzerland and under threat of German bullets during their last mad dash.

Ultimately, this is a film in which escape can only mean a willing return to war, and for this, amongst so many astonishing elements, La Grande Illusion is one of the great anti-war films in cinema history.

It might even be the best.

THE FILM CORNER RATING: ***** (5-Stars)

La Grande Illusion is being screened at the Toronto Jewish Film Festival (TJFF 2016) in cooperation with the Alliance Francaise to complement the premiere of Mark Rappaport’s new documentary on French Jewish actor Marcel Dalio. The screening will feature guest speaker Professor Chris Faulkner, author of "The Social Cinema of Jean Renoir".

The out-of-print Criterion Collection DVD is still available for rent at special video stores (in Toronto that includes, Queen Video, Bay Street Video and Suspect Video). Most major cities still have video stores like these. This edition of the film can still be purchased new or used at Amazon.com by visiting this link HERE. Amazon offers premium pricing, but also very reasonable used pricing options. The Criterion edition includes: Newly restored digital transfer, created from the long-lost camera negative, a 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, an Archival radio presentation of Renoir and Erich von Stroheim accepting Grand Illusion’s Best Foreign Film honours 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, plus a very interesting Restoration demonstration.

BREAKER MORANT - Review By Greg Klymkiw - Aussie Anti-War Favourite on Criterion

Bryan Brown and Edward Woodward await British "justice".

Breaker Morant (1980)
Dir. Bruce Beresford
Starring: Edward Woodward, Bryan Brown, Lewis Fitz-Gerald, Jack Thompson

Review By Greg Klymkiw

We'll do our best when crucified
To finish off in style, sir! - "Butchered to Make a Dutchman's Holiday",
a poem written by Harry "Breaker" Morant just prior to his execution.

Stories about nations executing their own soldiers are pretty much guaranteed to generate climaxes inspiring sheer, unbridled emotion, often resulting in copious tears from an audience, or at the very least, producing more than a few a catches in more than a few throats. Feelings of mounting anger and frustration are also par for the course since the executions are always a result of politics, petty bureaucratic manoeuvring, colonialism and major league ass-covering.

The greatest of them all is, of course, Stanley Kubrick's 1957 Paths of Glory with Kirk Douglas attempting to save a group of innocent soldiers from execution at the hands of a cold-hearted martinet. Some of my other favourites include: the great, near-forgotten 1974 NBC Television Movie The Execution of Private Slovik, written by legendary scribes Richard Levinson and William Link, directed by Lamont Johnson and starring Martin Sheen in one of his greatest performances; the recent 2015/2016 release of the heartbreaking Terence Davies picture Sunset Song, about a shell shocked soldier wishing to leave the front to be with his wife; And though there is no literal execution in it, the fate facing a shy young sailor in Hal Ashby's The Last Detail might as well be a death sentence.

Then there is Bruce Beresford's Breaker Morant from 1980, one of the many films to lead the Australian charge of internationally acclaimed box office hits. (The film was an especially huge grosser Down Under and eventually had an excellent shelf life in North America after initially soft openings).

This finely wrought courtroom (court martial) drama details the true story of commanding officer Lt. Harry "Breaker" Morant (Edward Woodward) and two of his men, Peter Handcock (Bryan Brown) and George Witton (Lewis Fitz-Gerald), all standing trial for the murder of (supposed) civilians in the fields of battle during the Boer War. The narrative is recounted in flashbacks during the tribunal presided over by pole-up-the-ass British military martinets. Director Beresford ably commandeers his superb cast through a compelling recounting of their actions in the field.

In spite of the fact that they've been handed a lawyer skilled only in corporate law, Maj. J.F. Thomas (Jack Thompson) offers a brilliant defence, and though history tells us otherwise, we're expecting either a full acquittal or, at the very least, no firing squad death sentences. Thomas throws everything, including the kitchen sink at the martinets, ranging from the trial being illegal as the men are Australian, not British, the very real facts that the enemy during the Boer War waged guerrilla warfare (wherein anyone could be the enemy), plus the astonishing facts that orders were given to Morant and his men to spare nobody (including an order to avenge an Australian soldier tortured to death by the Boers).

A Good Defence Means Nothing When
Brits Have Decided to Nail Aussies to a CROSS!

There is no question that Morant and his men have committed the wholesale slaughter of "civilians", but these are clearly not civilians. This is war, and as such, the most horrible things occur. This is not the case of Nazi-style genocide - it is warfare under impossible circumstances - period.

We're with the men to the tragic end of the film and the clear villains are the colonial imperialist British military. Oddly, director Bruce Beresford expressed shock over interpretations such as these. In a 2012 interview with Peter Malone, he said:

"I read an article about it recently in the LA times and the writer said it's the story of these guys who were railroaded by the British. But that's not what it's about at all. . . I always get amazed when people say to me that this is a film about poor Australians who were framed by the Brits."

Reading this, my immediate response is to assume Beresford's gone completely insane. Now sure, that might not be the entire story, but how can one deny that the overriding attitude of the movie towards the British is clearly anti-Colonialist. In the film's final few minutes, we're even treated to some choice, heartbreaking melancholy and exquisite sentimentality. Perhaps anti-colonialism within the historical context of this story wasn't Beresford's intention after all, but if not, then I'd have to assume he brought an innate Australian attitude towards the British. In fairness to Beresford, he does offer the following in the same interview:

"[The film] analysed why men in this situation would behave as they had never behaved before in their lives. It's the pressures that are put to bear on people in war time… "

Yes, I'm willing to accept this. It's one of the powerful anti-war elements of the picture, but the defence provided within the context of the court martial itself, within the very narrative of the film, does offer food for thought along these lines, but finally we can only react emotionally to what we see and experience, and that is: the men were subjected to an unfair trial in spite of a persuasive defence and it's clear that all the tea-and-crumpet-ingesting Brits have their minds made up from the beginning.

I watched the film again after reading Beresford's comments. I was still angered by the Brits and still deeply moved by the plight of the accused men. This did not change. I concluded that Beresford flipped his lid. This was the same film I saw in 1980, then several times over the next 35 years. It's the same movie millions of people have seen and loved.

It's a stirring film and an important one. And yeah, it still has me shuddering and spewing tears when Morant, just before being executed screams out: "Shoot straight, you bastards! Don't make a mess of it!"

War is cruel and unfair, but one cannot deny that honour and bravery exist amongst those men so savagely treated by it and who, in turn, have reduced themselves to killing machines for king and country.

THE FILM CORNER RATING: **** 4-Stars

The Criterion Collection Blu-Ray/DVD edition of Breaker Morant is gorgeously transferred and includes a solid audio commentary featuring Bruce Beresford in 2004, new interviews with Beresford, cinematographer Donald McAlpine and actor Bryan Brown, an interview with actor Edward Woodward from 2004, a superb new short piece about the Boer War with historian Stephen Miller, an interesting 1974 documentary The Breaker, profiling the real Harry “Breaker” Morant, (with a 2010 statement by its director, Frank Shields), the theatrical trailer and an essay by scholar Neil Sinyard.

Order these films directly from the links below and contribute to the maintenance of the Film Corner

USA and the rest of the world: Amazon.com

Canada: Amazon.ca

U.K. Amazon.co.uk

BREAKER MORANT - Review By Greg Klymkiw - Aussie Anti-War Favourite on Criterion

Bryan Brown and Edward Woodward await British "justice".

Breaker Morant (1980)
Dir. Bruce Beresford
Starring: Edward Woodward, Bryan Brown, Lewis Fitz-Gerald, Jack Thompson

Review By Greg Klymkiw

We'll do our best when crucified
To finish off in style, sir! - "Butchered to Make a Dutchman's Holiday",
a poem written by Harry "Breaker" Morant just prior to his execution.

Stories about nations executing their own soldiers are pretty much guaranteed to generate climaxes inspiring sheer, unbridled emotion, often resulting in copious tears from an audience, or at the very least, producing more than a few a catches in more than a few throats. Feelings of mounting anger and frustration are also par for the course since the executions are always a result of politics, petty bureaucratic manoeuvring, colonialism and major league ass-covering.

The greatest of them all is, of course, Stanley Kubrick's 1957 Paths of Glory with Kirk Douglas attempting to save a group of innocent soldiers from execution at the hands of a cold-hearted martinet. Some of my other favourites include: the great, near-forgotten 1974 NBC Television Movie The Execution of Private Slovik, written by legendary scribes Richard Levinson and William Link, directed by Lamont Johnson and starring Martin Sheen in one of his greatest performances; the recent 2015/2016 release of the heartbreaking Terence Davies picture Sunset Song, about a shell shocked soldier wishing to leave the front to be with his wife; And though there is no literal execution in it, the fate facing a shy young sailor in Hal Ashby's The Last Detail might as well be a death sentence.

Then there is Bruce Beresford's Breaker Morant from 1980, one of the many films to lead the Australian charge of internationally acclaimed box office hits. (The film was an especially huge grosser Down Under and eventually had an excellent shelf life in North America after initially soft openings).

This finely wrought courtroom (court martial) drama details the true story of commanding officer Lt. Harry "Breaker" Morant (Edward Woodward) and two of his men, Peter Handcock (Bryan Brown) and George Witton (Lewis Fitz-Gerald), all standing trial for the murder of (supposed) civilians in the fields of battle during the Boer War. The narrative is recounted in flashbacks during the tribunal presided over by pole-up-the-ass British military martinets. Director Beresford ably commandeers his superb cast through a compelling recounting of their actions in the field.

In spite of the fact that they've been handed a lawyer skilled only in corporate law, Maj. J.F. Thomas (Jack Thompson) offers a brilliant defence, and though history tells us otherwise, we're expecting either a full acquittal or, at the very least, no firing squad death sentences. Thomas throws everything, including the kitchen sink at the martinets, ranging from the trial being illegal as the men are Australian, not British, the very real facts that the enemy during the Boer War waged guerrilla warfare (wherein anyone could be the enemy), plus the astonishing facts that orders were given to Morant and his men to spare nobody (including an order to avenge an Australian soldier tortured to death by the Boers).

A Good Defence Means Nothing When
Brits Have Decided to Nail Aussies to a CROSS!

There is no question that Morant and his men have committed the wholesale slaughter of "civilians", but these are clearly not civilians. This is war, and as such, the most horrible things occur. This is not the case of Nazi-style genocide - it is warfare under impossible circumstances - period.

We're with the men to the tragic end of the film and the clear villains are the colonial imperialist British military. Oddly, director Bruce Beresford expressed shock over interpretations such as these. In a 2012 interview with Peter Malone, he said:

"I read an article about it recently in the LA times and the writer said it's the story of these guys who were railroaded by the British. But that's not what it's about at all. . . I always get amazed when people say to me that this is a film about poor Australians who were framed by the Brits."

Reading this, my immediate response is to assume Beresford's gone completely insane. Now sure, that might not be the entire story, but how can one deny that the overriding attitude of the movie towards the British is clearly anti-Colonialist. In the film's final few minutes, we're even treated to some choice, heartbreaking melancholy and exquisite sentimentality. Perhaps anti-colonialism within the historical context of this story wasn't Beresford's intention after all, but if not, then I'd have to assume he brought an innate Australian attitude towards the British. In fairness to Beresford, he does offer the following in the same interview:

"[The film] analysed why men in this situation would behave as they had never behaved before in their lives. It's the pressures that are put to bear on people in war time… "

Yes, I'm willing to accept this. It's one of the powerful anti-war elements of the picture, but the defence provided within the context of the court martial itself, within the very narrative of the film, does offer food for thought along these lines, but finally we can only react emotionally to what we see and experience, and that is: the men were subjected to an unfair trial in spite of a persuasive defence and it's clear that all the tea-and-crumpet-ingesting Brits have their minds made up from the beginning.

I watched the film again after reading Beresford's comments. I was still angered by the Brits and still deeply moved by the plight of the accused men. This did not change. I concluded that Beresford flipped his lid. This was the same film I saw in 1980, then several times over the next 35 years. It's the same movie millions of people have seen and loved.

It's a stirring film and an important one. And yeah, it still has me shuddering and spewing tears when Morant, just before being executed screams out: "Shoot straight, you bastards! Don't make a mess of it!"

War is cruel and unfair, but one cannot deny that honour and bravery exist amongst those men so savagely treated by it and who, in turn, have reduced themselves to killing machines for king and country.

THE FILM CORNER RATING: **** 4-Stars

The Criterion Collection Blu-Ray/DVD edition of Breaker Morant is gorgeously transferred and includes a solid audio commentary featuring Bruce Beresford in 2004, new interviews with Beresford, cinematographer Donald McAlpine and actor Bryan Brown, an interview with actor Edward Woodward from 2004, a superb new short piece about the Boer War with historian Stephen Miller, an interesting 1974 documentary The Breaker, profiling the real Harry “Breaker” Morant, (with a 2010 statement by its director, Frank Shields), the theatrical trailer and an essay by scholar Neil Sinyard.

Order these films directly from the links below and contribute to the maintenance of the Film Corner

USA and the rest of the world: Amazon.com

Canada: Amazon.ca

U.K. Amazon.co.uk