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France World War II

A Man Escaped begins with a shot of a prison camp and the caption, "This is a true story". Cut to a plaque that translates to read: "10,000 men suffered at the hands of the nazis and 7,000 died. I think it's safe to assume that Bresson {or the plaque} means "at the camp in question". Cut to an intertitle that reads "Lyon, 1943".

Cut to several men riding in the back seat of a car; two of whom are dressed in hand cuffs. The car stops to wait for a train and the one man who is not wearing cuffs throws open the door and attempts to escape. While the camera focuses on one man in the back seat, wearing a look of hopelessness, we hear the sound of running footsteps outside of the car. A few seconds later, we watch as Lieutenant Fontaine {François Leterrier}, our escapee wannabe, is tossed back into his seat and his wrist are adorned with their own, individual set, of cuffs.

Cut to our guy, Fontaine, getting out of the car. He's left to stand with his face to a wall while his captors go on about their business. A man spits in his face as he passes by and Fontaine gives a quick shiver of revulsion. After the altercation outside, he's led through an open doorway, a hand picks up one of the many farm implements that are leaning against the wall and the door closes. Cut to Fontaine being carried through the hallways to a cell where his bloody body is laid out on the floor and covered with a jacket. Once the guards have gone, Fontaine begins to narrate; describing the thoughts that go through his mind as he sits on the room's one cot and swabs away at the blood on his face. Fontaine's a member of the French Resistance.

Cut to a great shot of Fontaine's face as the guards wake him. When the guards have gone again, Fontaine takes a few minutes to explore his cell and discovers that he's able to reach the room's one window by standing on a small shelf. While he looks out the window, three French men walk past his cell. After a short, quiet, conversation, he learns that one of the men may be able to get messages to the outside world for him and the man tosses him a short length of twine on one of his next circuits around the yard. In the next few scenes, Fontaine manages to wash off some of the blood and to tap messages through the wall to the man in the cell next to his: a 19 year old French man who's awaiting the firing squad for having killed a German.

With the bit of string, Fontaine's able to pass things back and forth to his friend in the yard. Over the course of the next few days, this enables him to get hold of a few chocolates and a pin to unlock his handcuffs. On day four Fontaine gets his first meal and listens to the firing squads outside. Eventually, he's given some time in the yard to clean up and empty his "waste" can. His next several days are spent working at escaping; carving away at his door and getting to know some of the other inmates. Just as his plans are coming together, a man named Jost {Charles Le Clainche} is moved into Fontaine's cell, which makes his plans for escape much more complicated. Luckily, Fontaine's a determined guy.

As far as this genre goes; this is one of the best. There's a tiny cast, no effects and almost no violence. In fact, there's not a lot of footage that isn't of Fontaine alone in his cell. It's simply amazing what you can do with next to nothing and some black and white film. This is shot in a strangely claustrophobic style that's pretty appropriate to the scenario. The camera is just a bit "too close" in most shots. It works really well though I suppose this might look a bit different if it weren't cut to 4x3. This is a tight, literate and fascinating film that would make an excellent reference for low budget DV filmmakers today.