Le Trou

Often when I get a movie like this, that I've never heard of, and discover that it's over two-hours long, I approach watching it with a minor dread. I like the films of Jacques Becker, but I feel nervous just the same. The fun thing, however, is that I find my nervousness is often misplaced. I was pleasantly surprised to find this to be my favorite film yet from Becker, and what is probably the great prison break movie that I've ever seen. Oh, it's not so much about a prison break so much as it is about the process of breaking out of prison. It has the kind of meticulousness that made other French films of the era such as Rififi so enjoyable. There have been other great films about breaking out of the joint: The Great Escape, which has that enjoyably comfortably big-budget Hollywood feel, A Man Escaped, to which Robert Bresson hints at the metaphysical, and The Shawshank Redemption which has the kind of inspiration feel that has made it an audience favorite, but this is the best of them all, because this is pure cinema -- images juxtaposed against one another. It's very suspeseful and feels as if the audience is the sixth member of the crew as we watch the process step by step. This is one of the best movies I've seen in a while.