The Grand Illusion

One of the first 50 culturally significant films to be preserved in the Library of Congress by the National Film Registry, Charles Burnett’s legendary feature debut—a keystone movie of the L.A. Rebellion film movement—is a lyrical urban/bucolic portrait of everyday Black working-class life in Los Angeles’s Watts neighborhood. Shot on a shoestring budget with a largely non-professional cast, the story revolves around the experiences of Stan (Henry G. Sanders), a father trying to support his family and enjoy the simple pleasures they afford him while coping with the psychic stress of laboring in a slaughterhouse.

“The crowning achievement of the decade… [that shows] an alluring command of medium and would be imitated into the next century.” Elvis Mitchell, film critic and director of Is That Black Enough For You?!?

“An American masterpiece, independent to the bone.” Manohla Dargis, The New York Times