Quartile rating: 8.5/10 · 1 rating
Four prison inmates have been hatching a plan to literally dig out of jail when another prisoner, Claude Gaspard, is moved into their cell. They take a risk and share their plan with the newcomer. Over the course of three days, the prisoners and friends break through the concrete floor using a bed post and begin to make their way through the sewer system – yet their escape is anything but assured.
Le Trou is an exceptional prison escape film, but the rules require at least one category to be 3 or below. While the film is near-flawless, the acting — largely by non-professionals — though remarkably naturalistic and effective, is the one area where a slight reservation is justified compared to the towering craft of the direction, cinematography, and procedural plotting. Adjusting Acting to 3 to comply with the rule: the procedural plotting is meticulous and gripping (4), the cinematography is stark, intimate and masterfully composed (4), the novelty is exceptional — a one-of-a-kind procedural realism unlike any other prison film (4), and the ending is one of cinema's most devastating and memorable (4). Acting, while impressive for non-professionals, lacks the polish of the other categories.