La Grande Illusion by Jackson Julian;

Author:Jackson, Julian;
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: BFI Publishing
Published: 2019-06-15T00:00:00+00:00

Marcel Dalio in Pépé le Moko

If the prisoners are clearly aware of Rosenthal’s difference, none explicitly makes any comment about the supposed racial characteristics of Jews. The only racial theorising comes from Rosenthal himself when Maréchal comments on his generosity: ‘You know it’s partly vanity. I am very proud to come from a rich family. When I invite you to dine with me, it gives me the opportunity to prove it to you. People think our worst defect is avarice, but they are wrong. We are often generous because we suffer from the sin of pride.’ It is significant in the light of 1930s politics that the only character revealing what seems like open racial disgust is the German von Rauffenstein when the prisoners’ quarters are being searched. Alighting upon Demolder’s copy of Pindar, he examines his skull briefly before uttering the words ‘Poor Pindar’ – presumably a suggestion that he (although not Jewish) is a racially debased type not worthy of a great poet representative of Europe’s classical tradition (a double irony since von Stroheim was the son of a Jewish hat merchant from Vienna). If this moment seems sinister, the prisoners do also reveal racial assumptions, albeit in more humorous form, during the scene where each explains why they want to escape and their conceptions of patriotism. When it comes to Rosenthal, the actor jokes: ‘Oh, him he’s born in Jerusalem.’

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