I watched this film last night and was yet again
amazed at the story that was presented in it. Those
men-soldiers-who were prisoners of war in a Nazi POW
camp, were able to work undetected-for the most
part-and dig several tunnels under and out of the camp
over the course of many months. The movie presents
nothing but a positive outlook by the allied
prisoners. This seems somewhat unlikely-that after
being stuck in a prison-many of them for years-that
they did not harbor any disgust, ill will or dislike
towards the German soldiers, and the movie did not
show disrespect for the German soldiers to their
faces.
The movie I must remember is partly that-a movie. It’s
meant to entertain and it also educates and pays
tribute to the men who fought and died in that camp,
in all the POW camps and in the Second World War. The
allied soldiers also needed help from the outside-the
red cross or other aid groups sent tools and radio
parts to help the POWs in their attempt to keep in
contact with the outside world and to know what was
going on with the war.
The bigger picture in respect to the escape was that
these men who were able to escape wanted to take
troops away from the frontline. That is said in the
film, but what is not explicitly stated is that they
did this around the time of D-day. So that when the
invasion of France occurred many thousands of troops
were scattered across Germany looking for POWs instead
of defending the coastal area of France.
The film shows several individuals and their part in
the planning and implementation of the escape. It does
have drama built in to it. The scene where “the 50”
are shot and killed is really very depressing. Much
like what war must really be like-the killing of
others and depressing to all involved. The movie ends
on an amusing note-perhaps to avoid being so
depressing from the previous scene with the 50 being
killed. Steve McQueen-who is called “the cooler king”
is sent back to the cooler-for the 4th time in the
film-and receives his trusty baseball mitt and ball to
pass the time while he sits in the cooler, waiting to
be released and presumably for his chance to escape.
This may represent the non-conformist and undeterred
spirit of the US soldier, or it may represent what is
good in all of us-that we will not put up with
tyranny, oppression and dictators-and that we will
continue to work against all those the work against
freedom.
The Great Escape (1963)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0057115/
History Channel Classroom:
http://www.history.com/classroom/admin/study_guide/archives/thc_guide.0491.html
Wednesday, November 7th, 2007
