Watch A Man Escaped For Free

Waste of time

hyped garbage

good back-story, and good acting

The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

There is something about prison movies n movies about prisoners of war. Their heroes r the biggest underdogs. The risk of any escape is thrilling. Their villains, especially Nazis r the most despicable ones. As a fan of such films n having seen most of them, i was excited to see this film. This movie has been on my radar for a very long time. Finally got a DVD copy. The film tells the story of André Devigny, a French resistance fighter who was imprisoned n was to be executed by the Nazis. The character is played by a non professional actor, François Leterrier. The film is written and directed by Robert Bresson (known for his minimalist film n non professional actors), this movie is one of his finest work. The film is very simple n the plan is meticulously described right from the start. The prison doesn't hav cctv, automatic doors, back up plan, guards patrolling day n night but inspite of all this the tension is maintained. The escape sequences are tremendously intense. The violent events in the film are all off screen, the jump from the car, the beating of the prisoners, the executions n the killing of the guard. All this off screen is enough for us to feel the turmoil of the characters

I hit an impasse with Bresson's previous film, Diary; he used a peculiar conflation of a search for transparent truth in the mysteries of life with anguish and dejection as romanticized spiritual journey, romanticized in the Christian sense where it's not spiritual if it doesn't have anguish. It seemed crude and without enlightenment. The impasse was; was the pious young priest for Bresson another person among others in the village led astray in the effort to rationalize his emotions, or was he above them, an ideal to aspire to? This was more interesting to me than the film itself.So I came to this hoping for the fresh light of retrospect. And what a stark contrast this is! Another idealistic young man who suffers torments, physical and inner, another life of anguish in four walls. But here Bresson draws the breath in, quiets the anguish, accepts the fact of it, and works to concentrate the senses and create physical presence. We've come far in our ability to do this, but it still resonates.The film is practically a long suspense piece, with a few questions about ethics suspended briefly. The man here, by contrast to the priest, simply does the work he sets out before him. He doesn't perceive himself a martyr of his cause, or a quiet sufferer of wrongs, he simply abides and prepares for the long night. His idealism waits to be found out until near the end when the charges against him are laid out; sabotage.It's fine work, easy to parse. It doesn't answer the impasse mentioned above so for that I'll have to go to his next one.

Jean Luc-Godard once said "Robert Bresson is French cinema, as Dostoevsky is the Russian novel and Mozart is the German music". Why, then, are Bresson's films so relatively neglected outside his native France? Perhaps the answer can be found in Bresson's philosophy of employing mainly non-professional actors, or his conscious choice to use lots of naturalistic sound in his films rather than hiring composers to pour dramatic scoring over the action. Whatever the explanation, Bresson's films are well worth seeking out. Arguably the best of all – and the one most likely to hook newcomers to the director's work – is Un condamné à mort s'est échappé ou Le vent soufflé où il veut, known in English-speaking countries simply as A Man Escaped. It is an incredible film, viewable on one level as a taut escape story but equally viewable as a metaphorical story of hope and salvation.Fontaine (François Leterrier) is a member of the French Resistance during WWII. Captured by the Nazis, he is taken to the notorious prison of Fort Montluc near Lyon. After attempting to escape in transit, only to be recaptured, Fontaine is soon incarcerated at Montluc on the first floor of the jail. He is confined to his cell but also handcuffed for good measure. Later he is moved up to the top floor of the jail, considered so inescapable that there is no longer any need for his handcuffs, which are promptly removed. Fontaine gradually establishes that the cell doors are made of sub-standard wood and manages to steal an iron spoon one meal-time which he uses to painstakingly dismantle the door, putting it back together as he goes to prevent his escape plans from being detected. When Fontaine learns that he is soon to be executed, his need to escape becomes more urgent than ever. The plan is jeopardised when a new prisoner is moved into the same cell – a young German deserter named François Jost (Charles Le Clainche). Fontaine is unsure whether he can trust Jost and faces a terrible dilemma… should he tell the young man about his planned escape and risk failure, or kill him to ensure secrecy (and in so doing sacrifice his moral dignity)?Based on the true memoirs of P.O.W. Andre Devigny, A Man Escaped is brilliantly tense throughout. Much of the film passes wordlessly, capturing the methodical perseverance with which Fonatine works on his escape, emphasising the aching silence within the jail so as to make every scratch of Fontaine's spoon a potentially fatal giveaway sound. No film has ever used silence to generate such tension, but Bresson does it magnificently – there are moments where you almost feel the hero's heartbeat might be loud enough to scupper his plan. The excitement is almost unbearable and, better still, is sustained for long segments of the film. Léonce-Henri Burel's cinematography is excellent throughout, capturing a sparse and desolate atmosphere which seems to emanate from the prison wall itself. The performances are remarkable too – even more so considering that the leads are all non-professionals – with Leterrier in particular commanding attention as the grimly determined Fontaine. A Man Escaped is a masterpiece – one of the greatest French films of all- time, one of the greatest prison break films of all-time and one of the greatest hope-in-the-face-of-adversity films of all-time. The sooner it is rediscovered by modern audiences, the better.

Robert Bresson's works are productions which don't intend to satisfy expectations of the audience, they are primarily art-house projects. Bresson's films thus are non-commercial, he only uses non-professional actors, rarely integrates music, besides his shots are realistic, lack action and instead focus on the essential, there are no embellishments to sell a scene. What you see on the screen is understated, minimalistic, carefully planned efficiency - less is more.All these things apply to "A Man Escaped", based on a true story, and the title already tells you the whole plot. It's as basic as that, and miraculously this does the trick: In between the daily prison routines we get to know how our protagonist works on a plan to make the impossible happen, piece by piece he progresses, and the longer his efforts last the more we identify with the endeavor and root for him. Bresson's direction is restrained, unobtrusive, the pace is slow, dictated by prison life regularity, yet the film turns out to be extremely suspenseful in its simplicity, despite or maybe because it doesn't shun to return to the same images and camera perspectives again and again. Sound plays a key role and of course the recitative voice-over, which holds it all together. I guess it's safe to say that a man indeed escaped movie making conventions with this one and succeeded - chapeau bas à Robert Bresson.Additional note: The other film on par with Bresson's mastery as far as prison escape films are concerned is of course Jacques Becker's seminal "Le Trou" (1960). Realism dominates that one as well, though "Le Trou" has more psychological drama thanks to the group dynamics involved. Despite the somewhat different angle "Le Trou" is as riveting, intense and suspenseful throughout as Bresson's take on the subject. The players are mainly non-actors in this one as well, the emotions are palpable, all sounds in the film are diegetic (always occurring on screen) etc., you see the parallels. To sum it up: Edge-of-the-seat cinema without distracting gimmicks. Two Frenchmen who knew how to do it!