After my first dip into the oeuvre of Robert Bresson in Diary of a Country Priest, I wasn't particularly looking forward to more. This film was a pleasant surprise, I am pleased to say.
I wont compare it to other prison escape movies as it seems bad to lump it into that genre. Bresson created his own genre of 'Cinematographe': A stripped back look at film with an over emphasis on sound and featuring nonprofessional actors. In Diary of a Country Priest, I found the form tedious and quite boring. Here it is used to full effect. The main difference is that this film builds tension and the stakes are evident. The characters are also sympathetic.
It is basically what it says on the tin. It's the story of one man's plan, execution and, finally, act of escape from a POW prison in Lyon. It is based on true events, but that is of no matter. What does matter is the starkness of the telling. It's taken from his viewpoint, narrated in his mind. The over emphasis on sound is of particular importance during his escape, the stop/start scraping away of the mortar from his door, the clang of the guard's key against railings, the effort to not make any noise on the gravel and the mysterious squeaking revealed to be a rusty bike ridden by the lone perimeter guard.
Simplistic looking, but far from it. A great accomplishment in film-making and certainly stands up today.
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