Jacques Becker's last film, Le Trou, is one of the great prison escape films, and a profound meditation on freedom and confinement. It has us rooting--as never before--for the success of its protagonists, all convicts of varying degrees of toughness attempting a prison breakout. Becker's success at creating suspense is rooted in his philosophy of filmmaking: “In a true film,” he has stated, “everything must be foreseen; the smallest suspect detail destroys the value of the whole.” In Le Trou, he painstakingly establishes the contained world of four prisoners--and then adds a fifth. Suddenly, everything revolves around the newcomer: will he or won't he go along with the escape plan?