LE TROU

(1960) A car mechanic tells us this is his story: too-sensitive-looking Marc Michel is ushered into a prison cell, where four wary-looking cons (including the mechanic as himself) tell him he's looking at ten years hard labor. Then, when they abruptly take the first step toward a breakout, pounding away at a corner of the cell with a makeshift tool, a relentless and riveting "cinema of process" begins, culminating in a 4-minute take with three of the four cons taking turns at whacking away at a tunnel of freedom. Renoir protege Becker-previously director of primo gangster films, both period (Casque d'or) and modern (Touchez pas au Grisbi)-determined to make a super-realistic treatment after reading newspaper accounts of the actual 1947 prison break, later teaming with ex-con and Serie noire icon Jose Giovanni, who wrote his own novel on the case, and three of the actual survivors. A powerful statement of teamwork, loyalty and betrayal, told with nerve-shredding suspense and capped by the most startling turn of the "periscope" in film history, The Hole (the title's literal translation) was rhapsodized over by contemporary critics, but haunted by the death of 53-year-old Becker at the time of its release. DCP. Approx. 131 min.

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