Which 1937 Jean Renoir film was set among French prisoners of war during World War I?

The 1937 Jean Renoir film set among French prisoners of war during World War I is La Grande Illusion. The French title means “The Grand Illusion,” and the story follows officers held in German prison camps as they plan escapes and confront changing ideas about class, nationality, and war.

Renoir drew partly on his own wartime experience as a reconnaissance pilot and on the stories of Armand Pinsard, a French aviator who had repeatedly been shot down, captured, and escaped. The film contains no conventional battlefield scenes; instead, the prison camps become a setting where enemies discover shared customs and personal bonds. Jean Gabin plays Lieutenant Maréchal, while Pierre Fresnay and Erich von Stroheim play important officers on opposite sides.

The film’s title alludes to Norman Angell’s 1909 book The Great Illusion, which argued that modern war was economically irrational. It is sometimes mistaken for a straightforward combat film, but its central concern is the futility of war and the possibility that class divisions may outlast national ones. La Grande Illusion was also notable for addressing antisemitism through the character of Rosenthal.