Throughout the entire spectacle of this film, a thought kept lingering in mind. This thought being whether Shawshank Redemption was inspired by this film. There were so many elements that felt very familiar in this film that I saw in Daramont’s classic. We had a brief interlude before the movie began discussing how this film in particular was a pioneer to Bresson’s visual style in cinematography as well as screenwriting. From watching his previous film “Diary of a Country Priest”, his visual style becomes more organic, meticulous, and natural where it is able to grasp many emotions, making it more entertaining.
	The visual style and setting (mise-en-scene) were crucial to expanding the details and suspense of the story. The story takes place in a German Nazi prison during World War II. The film’s time period seems very relevant considering it was created in 1950. This adds more suspense since the audience’s dislike for Nazi’s make them root more for Fontaine’s desire to escape. The setting only took place in the prison, with the exception of Fontaine heading to his cell, and going to another building which disclosed his inevitable sentence to being executed. There were also very few digetic sounds which some possibly being symbolic representations of freedom or solitude. The sounds of the train would emerge when Fontaine would plan to escape indicating how near freedom is while the sounds of the guardsman hitting his keys to the stair rails represented entrapment for Fontaine. Bresson is very crafty when trying to direct a first person point of view. Not only does he have a voiceover to indicate that it is Fontaine’s point of view, but he also does many eyeline shots for his character as well. This is very similar to his “Diary of a Country Priest film” when encapturing the priest’s POV. There were also many repetitive shots to indicate the prison mates’ rebellious nature. Every time men were washing themselves in the fountain, they would begin to speak more and pass more notes. Every time they would throw away their waste buckets their routine becomes more tumultuous. These scenes are special in particular because the same musical score is always played during this process despite there not being any music throughout the film. I believe this was directed to make the audience more suspended with each scene, making them feel more uncomfortable, which is the overall goal for the film. My favorite scene is the ending actually. It was one of my biggest relieving moments ever to see Fontaine and Jost walk faster by the train tracks and see the Fin credits. It felt very deserving for both of them to achieve this escape. With the adamant effort of Fontaine’s plans to escape, Jost’s innocent youthfulness, and my distaste for the Nazi’s, I felt immense joy when they both managed to get away from that prison. I physically cheered at the theatre when the movie ended. 
	I will definitely watch this film again in the future and will encourage others to join me as well. Not only was this film very enjoyable with its immense suspense, but it was fun being around others who feel the same way. I hope to come across other films that are suspenseful as this. Hopefully it is another Bresson film since he has mastered this style before. 
