In a Paris prison cell, five inmates use every ounce of their tenacity and ingenuity in an elaborate attempt to tunnel to freedom. Based on the novel by José Giovanni, Jacques Becker’s Le trou (The Hole) balances lyrical humanism with a tense, unshakable air of imminent danger. —The Criterion Collection
His interest in films was stimulated by a meeting with King Vidor, who offered him employment in the US as actor and assistant director. However, he remained in France and became assistant to Jean Renoir, a friend of the family, during that director’s peak period (1932-39). In 1934 he ventured briefly into independent production, co-directing with Pierre Prévert a short film, Le commissaire est bon enfant, le gendarme est sans pitié (1935). In 1935 he turned out a five-reeler, Tête de turc (1935), which he later refused to acknowledge as his.
In 1939 he began shooting a feature film, L’or du Cristobal (1940), but walked out after three weeks, leaving the film to be finished by Jean Stelli. In 1942, after a year in a German prisoner-of-war camp, he began his career as director. His entire output consisted of only 13 films, but they include some of the most artistically and technically substantial in French cinema. He is one of the few Old Guard directors done honor by the New… read more
This superlative and utterly gripping fact-based prison escape movie was influential director Jacques Becker's final film before his early death. Showing a remarkable attention to every intricate detail, the director's decision to use a cast of mainly non-professional actors and to not use any music pays off handsomely as a documentary-like effect is created. Truffaut hailed this film as a masterpiece. He was right..
Over at Shadowplay, I'm hosting a little blogathon on "late films," but it was coincidence that found me screening a fan-subtitled, from
Sometimes I like to knock on my desk or wall or something in the same rhythm as the prisoners in this film banging on the concrete in their cell. I swear this is the freshest prison film I’ve ever… read review
