osprey_archer (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
osprey_archer) wrote2014-05-23 02:20 pm
osprey_archer) wrote2014-05-23 02:20 pm
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Film Review Friday: Casablanca
Loyalty, sacrifice, heroism, the conflict between duty and desire, all wrapped up in a sharp, stylish black-and-white package: this is Casablanca, one of the most hyped movies in the world and one of the few that lives up to every iota of praise it receives.
There are a lot of things to love about this movie (see above "loyalty, sacrifice, etc."), but above all, what that keeps me coming back to Casablanca is the complexity of the characters - their pure emotional complexity and indecision, but also the complex way in which their personalities and their choices interact with the movies themes. The characters are all foils for each other, refracting different visions of heroism and righteousness.
The main story ties up quite satisfyingly, but a lot of interpretive questions remain open at the end. Did Rick seriously intend to run away with Ilsa? Does Ilsa love Laszlo, despite also loving Rick - and will she ever make peace with the film's ending? Just how bad a man is Louis Renault, and why do I like him anyway? And Victor Laszlo...well, I can't think of any open questions about Victor Laszlo.
Roger Ebert has a massive hate-on for Victor Laszlow, which I don’t understand: how can you hate the orchestrator of the Marseillaise sequence, where Laszlo rouses the crowd to sing La Marseillaise over the German soldiers' patriotic song? It's one of the great scenes of resistance in film - maybe one of the greatest scenes of anything in film.
(Actually, this question answers itself pretty easily: Rick Blaine is the audience identification character, and Ebert clearly feels that Rick should have gotten the girl. Never mind the movie would be a boring little war romance if he did. I see your shipper feels, Ebert!)
However, it cannot be denied that Laszlow is the least compelling of the main characters, possibly the least compelling character in the movie, because he’s completely unconflicted. Alone of the main characters, he is never tempted to put aside duty for desire, because his duties and desires are the same. His goal is to resist the Nazis and he never wavers from it.
Rick, Ilsa, and the French police captain Louis Renault, on the other hand, are all about the conflict between duty and desire: they are all in a sense foils to Laszlo (or is he a foil to them?), illustrating other possible resolutions to the conflict. Rick eventually chooses duty, Ilsa ultimately tries to capitulate to desire (but is prevented by Rick), and Renault spends most of the movie wallowing gleefully in the triumph of desire, only to be forced at gunpoint to give up his collaborating ways and follow the hard path of duty.
The funny thing is that he seems strangely liberated by the experience. One gets the impression that he’s known this is what he ought to do all along, but didn’t have the strength of will do it. He really did enjoy the spoils of collaboration, but in a strange way he seems relieved - even pleased - when the opportunity to collaborate is taken away and he's forced to do what he's always known he should.
Renault is my favorite character in Casablanca, and I wish I could say that I mean this in a "I think he's the most interesting character" way, but mostly I just like him the most. None of his bad actions impede this feeling.
And he's really kind of terrible. He collaborates with the Nazis. He revels in the spoils of collaboration and corruption - when I say he has qualms about it, I don’t for a moment mean that he sits up at night torturing himself about what a bad, bad man he is, because he’s clearly having a ball. He knows it’s wrong and kind of doesn’t care. He uses his position to coerce women into having sex in return for visa papers.
But l still like him every time I watch the movie. And not even in a “I hope someone smacks his smug face” kind of way. No, I’m rooting for that moment at the end where Rick forces Renault to stop being a collaborator, and Renault shucks off all the spoils of his corruption with the same insouciance with which he previously enjoyed them. "I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship," said Rick, and they walk off together into the Nazi-fighting darkness.
Casablanca is a movie about loyalty and duty and self-sacrifice. But it is also a movie about redemption: Rick's redemption from his cynicism, Renault's redemption from his generally evil ways. In Casablanca following duty is difficult and painful and generally requires giving up the things you most want - be that Ilsa, or all the perks that come with being a corrupt officer in a totalitarian regime.
But there is often a difference between the things we want and the things that will truly make us happy. By giving up the desires they know are wrong, the characters learn - no; they allow themselves to want to do their duty. In doing so, Rick and Renault gain the clarity and inner peace that have been Victor Laszlo's from the beginning. Duty is not a punishment in Casablanca. Rather, the peace it offers is a temptation.
There are a lot of things to love about this movie (see above "loyalty, sacrifice, etc."), but above all, what that keeps me coming back to Casablanca is the complexity of the characters - their pure emotional complexity and indecision, but also the complex way in which their personalities and their choices interact with the movies themes. The characters are all foils for each other, refracting different visions of heroism and righteousness.
The main story ties up quite satisfyingly, but a lot of interpretive questions remain open at the end. Did Rick seriously intend to run away with Ilsa? Does Ilsa love Laszlo, despite also loving Rick - and will she ever make peace with the film's ending? Just how bad a man is Louis Renault, and why do I like him anyway? And Victor Laszlo...well, I can't think of any open questions about Victor Laszlo.
Roger Ebert has a massive hate-on for Victor Laszlow, which I don’t understand: how can you hate the orchestrator of the Marseillaise sequence, where Laszlo rouses the crowd to sing La Marseillaise over the German soldiers' patriotic song? It's one of the great scenes of resistance in film - maybe one of the greatest scenes of anything in film.
(Actually, this question answers itself pretty easily: Rick Blaine is the audience identification character, and Ebert clearly feels that Rick should have gotten the girl. Never mind the movie would be a boring little war romance if he did. I see your shipper feels, Ebert!)
However, it cannot be denied that Laszlow is the least compelling of the main characters, possibly the least compelling character in the movie, because he’s completely unconflicted. Alone of the main characters, he is never tempted to put aside duty for desire, because his duties and desires are the same. His goal is to resist the Nazis and he never wavers from it.
Rick, Ilsa, and the French police captain Louis Renault, on the other hand, are all about the conflict between duty and desire: they are all in a sense foils to Laszlo (or is he a foil to them?), illustrating other possible resolutions to the conflict. Rick eventually chooses duty, Ilsa ultimately tries to capitulate to desire (but is prevented by Rick), and Renault spends most of the movie wallowing gleefully in the triumph of desire, only to be forced at gunpoint to give up his collaborating ways and follow the hard path of duty.
The funny thing is that he seems strangely liberated by the experience. One gets the impression that he’s known this is what he ought to do all along, but didn’t have the strength of will do it. He really did enjoy the spoils of collaboration, but in a strange way he seems relieved - even pleased - when the opportunity to collaborate is taken away and he's forced to do what he's always known he should.
Renault is my favorite character in Casablanca, and I wish I could say that I mean this in a "I think he's the most interesting character" way, but mostly I just like him the most. None of his bad actions impede this feeling.
And he's really kind of terrible. He collaborates with the Nazis. He revels in the spoils of collaboration and corruption - when I say he has qualms about it, I don’t for a moment mean that he sits up at night torturing himself about what a bad, bad man he is, because he’s clearly having a ball. He knows it’s wrong and kind of doesn’t care. He uses his position to coerce women into having sex in return for visa papers.
But l still like him every time I watch the movie. And not even in a “I hope someone smacks his smug face” kind of way. No, I’m rooting for that moment at the end where Rick forces Renault to stop being a collaborator, and Renault shucks off all the spoils of his corruption with the same insouciance with which he previously enjoyed them. "I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship," said Rick, and they walk off together into the Nazi-fighting darkness.
Casablanca is a movie about loyalty and duty and self-sacrifice. But it is also a movie about redemption: Rick's redemption from his cynicism, Renault's redemption from his generally evil ways. In Casablanca following duty is difficult and painful and generally requires giving up the things you most want - be that Ilsa, or all the perks that come with being a corrupt officer in a totalitarian regime.
But there is often a difference between the things we want and the things that will truly make us happy. By giving up the desires they know are wrong, the characters learn - no; they allow themselves to want to do their duty. In doing so, Rick and Renault gain the clarity and inner peace that have been Victor Laszlo's from the beginning. Duty is not a punishment in Casablanca. Rather, the peace it offers is a temptation.
no subject
If all our choices were as easy as he finds his, life would be less compelling...
no subject