The Grand Illusion

In The Grand Illusion, we see the ultimate breakdown of diplomacy, a world war. The movie recounts the struggle of a particular group of people who had to go through those hardships. Locarno’s A Democratic Peace? deals with the problems faced in the late 1920s and early 30s in maintaining the peace that came following WW1. The movie believes that universal solidarity against hardship will eventually open the way to peace whereas Locarno’s paper talks about the inevitability of the breakdown of diplomacy and democracy that took place in this time period. The main problem was that there was never any clear and final end to the war with an obvious victor and an obvious loser. True Germany is the nominal loser but not to the Germans who would harbor deep resentments about the Treaty of Versailles and the belief that Germany should have won this war. Also France technically won the war but they would come to feel vastly inferior to Germany and would be seen as too cruel with their desire to see the terms of the Treaty of Versailles strictly enforced. Our movie, La Grande Illusion, takes place during WW1. Two French officers, working-class lieutenant Marechal and the aristocratic captain Boeldieu, are captured during a mission by Rittmeister von Rauffenstein. Rauffenstein, an aristocrat himself, upon inviting the two captured officers to dinner, immediately strikes up a conversation with Boeldieu after finding out that they share mutual acquaintances in the aristocracy. Upon arriving at their prisoner-of-war camp they meet an interesting group of other captured soldiers and begin helping them plan an escape. After being caught after multiple failed attempts to escape Marechal and Boeldieu are sent to Wintersborn. Rauffenstein is by now severely wounded and as such has been promoted and then sent away as he cannot fly anymore. Having grown despondent he is made happy again by the renewed sight of Boeldieu. They re-engage in conversing and spending time together and