A Man Escaped

I was inspired to see Robert Bresson's A Man Escaped (1956) due to Richard Howard's essay on the film in Writers At The Movies. it is based on Andre the true life exploits of Andre Devigny, a resistance fighter who escaped from the Montluc prison. Incidentally Bresson was also a resistance fighter who was imprisoned during WWII. This film is testament to the courage of those resisters. In this film Bresson used amateur actors in meticulously planned scenes that propel the story of escape without wasting time on exposition. Unlike most escape films the guards not characterized as being sadistic or kind they merely function as obstacles in the was of Fontaine's (Francois Leterrier) escape. They way that the story is presented by the director through medium shots, close ups, and insert shots creates a kind of tension throughout the film's 99 minutes. The sparing use of Mozart's Kyrie at the beginning and the end are very effective as well. I think this is Bresson's masterpiece, for me it was more compelling than his two other celebrated films Pickpocket and Diary of a Country Priest.