The satraps of the good film

satrap

\ SEY-trap \  , noun;

1. a subordinate ruler, often a despotic one.

2. a governor of a province under the ancient Persian monarchy.

 

Boy do I have an example for you today, loyal readers.  I'm pretty sure the cutesy little anecdote that I have for you today isn't going to match the above definition precisely, but it's damn close and I need to tell you about the movie I saw earlier tonight.

 

To make a long story short, I went to see a French movie tonight put on by the French department here at SU so I wouldn't have to sit through an hour's conversation with a TA--in French.  The move that they showed us was "La Grande Illusion", or, for those of you who can't translate that into English yourselves, "The Big Illusion".  It's an old movie, made in 1937 before WWII, and is a war movie about WWI.

 

Now I know what you must be thinking: Oh great, a war movie?  Laaaaaaame.  And it's in French.  And German.  And okay a little bit of English.  But still laaaaaame.  

 

This is not the case, loyal readers.  Basically, the movie is about these French captains that get captured by the Germans and are held (in a very nice) prison camp.  After being moved around a few times and separated from each other, these two solders manage to escape while the third, noble captain dies trying to save them.  Now I know this sounds cliche, and there's a helluva lot more to the story than that, but it's just so well done.  The characters are great and there is so much foreshadowing for real life that was just unheard of in 1937 (when the movie was made).

 

Now, amongst all my rambling about great movies, I know you're here to learn about the Word of the Day.  Well the best I've got is, "There are some real satraps in the film La grande illusion".

 

That's it, that's all I've got.  Now go watch the movie, there's humor and seriousness and friendship and death and I promise you won't regret it!