Stalag

In un campo di prigionia tedesco dove sono rinchiusi alcuni militari americani, un tentativo di fuga di alcuni prigionieri viene sventato ed i fuggaischi uccisi. Nasce il sospetto che una spia si nasconda fra loro ed i sospetti all'inizio convergono su Sedgewick, un cinico sergente che tratta con i soldati tedesch - It's a dreary Christmas 1944 for the American POWs in Stalag 17. For the men in Barracks 4, all sergeants, have to deal with a grave problem - there seems to be a security leak. The Germans always seem to be forewarned about escapes and in the most recent attempt the two men.

Olivier Messiaen composed his eight-movement Quartet for the End of Time in 1940 while imprisoned in Germany. He drew his inspiration from the Apocalypse written by Saint John the Evangelist, one of the few works he was allowed to keep in the camp. Het Collectif explores this work, never forgetting that it was at the heart of this harsh winter of war, in a context of misfortune, confinement and deprivation, that Messiaen had an angel speak, promising paradise and the end of time… Stalag VIIIa , composed by Tristan Murail, whose title refers to Olivier Messiaen's place of detention in Görlitz in 1940, completes this programme.

The real history behind the classic war movie and the men who plotted the daring escape from a Nazi POW camp.