The Great Escaper – Film Review
by Frank L.

Director – Oliver Parker
Writer – William Ivory
Stars – Michael Caine, Glenda Jackson, John Standing

This is a film about the seventieth anniversary of the D-Day landings on the beaches of Normandy. It is based on a true story. Bernard Jordan (Michael Caine) was one of the young soldiers who was part of the vanguard and survived. One D. Bennett a comrade in his landing craft had given him a little box with personal material which he wanted to ensure would be kept safe. Bennett did not survive the landing and Bernie has felt under an obligation to return to Normandy and visit the grave of his fallen comrade. Unfortunately he was late in applying to join the official party and it was full up.

Bernie lives in a retirement home with his wife Rene (Glenda Jackson). They are fortunate as they have there an apartment where they can live together. The film begins with a frame of Bernie, taken from behind, looking out to the enormity of the sea. He is standing on a pebbly beach with a walking stick with its ferrule sinking into the pebbles as he walks. Bernie knows he will not make the seventy-fifth anniversary. Time is running out for him. He decides to go solo to Normandy which means he will have to escape from the retirement home and that is what he does.

One part of the film depicts the adventure of his escape and managing to join, with a little subterfuge, the official party where he is befriended by another veteran.  He too has a story and his own memories and demons. All the time Bernie is haunted by memories of Bennett his fallen comrade and also his own romantic encounters with Rene all those years ago. He has many flashbacks; those events are part of his very being. Meanwhile, back at the retirement home, all hell is breaking loose when they discover Bernie has gone missing and that he is heading to Normandy!

The other part of the film is the strong love and commitment that Bernie and Rene have for each other notwithstanding the limitations imposed by old age. The casting of Caine and Jackson was inspired. They both have enviable reputations as actors and here they add further laurels to their achievements. Caine was almost ninety at the time of the shooting of the film and Jackson was in her late eighties. Sadly she has since died. Together they create a world where loyalty, companionship and love mix comfortably with a certain amount of benign crustiness. It is a privilege to watch the two of them perform and interact with each other.

Inevitably in any film about the D-Day landings, a sense of triumphalism is likely to play a part in the story.  However, an encounter with a small group of German veterans helps to keep a sense of balance to the proceedings. All of them are old men now and all of them have their memories.

Stories of valour in war are commonplace and the D-Day landings have created their own mythology. Sentimentality is never far away. Here is the story of a young couple who survived the war and lived into a contented old age. Bernie never forgets the Normandy landings and his comrade Bennett. Rene and Bernie’s life together is another great achievement in itself and it is a story worthy of celebration.