Anniversary of The Hole
On March 18, 1960 the movie of Jacques Becker "Le trou (The Hole)" came out on the screens of French cinemas.
It is believed that this film was the best in the work of Jacques Becker. But Becker himself could not see this film in the cinema: he died 26 days before the premiere of the film.
The film is based on the novel of the same name by Jose Giovanni (the pseudonym of the Franco-Swiss writer Joseph Damiani). In his youth, Joseph Damiani was sentenced to death, which was then replaced by 20 years in prison. After 11 years in prison, Damiani was released and subsequently rehabilitated.
At the 1960 Cannes International Film Festival, "Le trou (The Hole)" was nominated for the Palme d'Or, but lost the prize to Federico Fellini's "La dolce vita". However, the company of "losers" that year was more than worthy. In addition to "Le trou (The Hole)" in the company of “losers” were “Jungfrukällan (The Virgin Spring)” by Ingmar Bergman, “Баллада о солдате (Ballad of a soldier)” by Grigory Chukhrai, “L'Avventura” by Michelangelo Antonioni, “Неотправленное письмо (Letter Never Sent)” by Mikhail Kalatozov and others.
Two years later, Hole was nominated for another prestigious award - the British BAFTA Award for Best Film from any Source. And again, the victory went to another, more than worthy film - "Ballad of a Soldier." And again, the company of “losers” for "Le trou (The Hole)" was made up of the masterpieces of world cinema: “Judgment at Nuremberg” by Stanley Kramer, “Rocco e i suoi fratelli (Rocco and his brothers)” by Luchino Visconti, “Apur Sansar (The World of Apu)” by Satyajit Ray.
The lack (relative) of festival success of this film is more than offset by the success at film critics and ordinary moviegoers. According to rottentomatoes.com, 94% of critics' reviews are positive.
80% of IMDB and Kinopoisk users gave this film a rating from 8 to 10. Based on the foregoing, the rating of the film "Le trou (The Hole)", according to FilmGourmand, was 8.595, which allowed it to take 285th Rank in the Golden Thousand.
But in Soviet cinemas the film was not shown. Perhaps for the same reason as the anti-Nazi film “Un condamné à mort s'est échappé ou Le vent souffle où il veut (A Man Escaped)” was not shown: this film was too clear an aid to jailbreak.
