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Although the title translates as The Big Trial, La Grande Epreuve was released in Great Britain as The Soul of France. Based on a novel by Georges La Faure, the plot focuses on two brothers, one an army officer, the other a fugitive from justice. When WWI breaks out, the two brothers are unexpectedly reunited on the battlefield. Seriously wounded, the officer is rescued and brought back to his own lines by his older brother, who had enlisted as a private. Never learning the identity of his rescuer, the officer dies of his wounds. This tragedy inspires a personality change in the older brother, who promptly volunteers for a suicide mission. Surviving the ordeal, the private falls in love with a pretty Red Cross nurse, who arranges a reconciliation between the hero and the rest of his family.