The Great Escape (1963)

Based on the true story of the escape of British war prisoners from the German detention camp Stalag Luft III in Sagan, Poland, The Great Escape is one of the timeless epic WW II war movies.

In 1943 the Germans open a new, supposedly escape-proof POW camp in which they house all the Allied prisoners of war that gave them trouble with multiple escape attempts before. Due to the tight security they however didn’t anticipated that with putting the most ingenious escape artists in one location they give the captured soldiers, that felt it was their duty to divert as many German resources as possible to keep them imprisoned, the possibility to pool their resources and plan a mass breakout from the camp.

So, after arriving at the new detention camp, the prisoners immediately assess the security and plan smaller escapes which all fail. When Royal Air Force Squadron Leader Bartlett, who escaped numerous times before, is brought to the camp, he creates an escape team and meticulously plans the largest and probably most ambitious escape attempt of World War II trying to get 250 men through 3 tunnels out of German captivity.

The first half of the film shows all the preparation for the escape: some men are responsible for building the tunnels, others to get rid of the dirt that was dug out, others to distract their jailers and still others to forge documents or to make clothes. With unparalleled and sometimes hilarious ideas and an indomitable spirit the prisoners outwit the Nazis.

After some smaller and bigger setbacks including some personal drama, the day of the great escape arrives bringing the movie to a complete different level and reminding the viewers that this ostensible entertaining movie is set during WW II.