This compelling, thrilling tale of courage and faith recounts a Resistance fighter's daring escape from a Nazi prison, just hours before he was to be executed. Based on a true story, the film meticulously details Lieutenant Fontaine's preparations for escape. With stealth and precision, he puts into action a plan as suspenseful as anything out of Hitchcock. At the height of his powers, using non-professional actors and a rigorously spare style, acclaimed director Robert Bresson (Pickpocket, Lancelot of The Lake) created a radiantly intense classic that became an inspiration for the New Wave.