So as part of my participation in the first ever Genrebusters Day (the purpose of which is to expand the participants’ horizons when it comes to film by exposing them to something they’ve never seen before and is out of their usual realm of interest), I watched “Casablanca”. Seeing as how I don’t own a copy of the film, I went over to my cousins’ house and we watched their copy. I had avoided this film due to my prejudice towards all older films (Hey, I still haven’t seen “Citizen Kane”, and honestly, I’m really not interested in seeing it. But I digress).
Now, after watching “Casablanca”, what do I think? I liked it! It’s an excellent film! It’s not filled with explosions or over the top action sequences or half-naked women or zombies and it doesn’t need to be. For those of you who haven’t seen the film, it’s a drama about… well that’s kind of complicated. It’s set during December of 1941 in a town in Morocco called Casablanca. It follows the lives of a handful of people over the course of a few days. First and foremost is the character of Rick Blaine (played amazingly by Humphrey Bogart), the owner of a bar & casino called “Rick’s Café Américain”. Then there’s Ilsa (played by Ingrid Bergman), Rick’s former love who disappeared a few years before, leaving Rick waiting on a train platform in Paris. Victor Laszlo (Paul Henreid), is Ilsa’s husband and a leader in the anti-Nazi underground resistance (as well as being the reason that she left Rick). And last but not least, it features Claude Rains as Captain Renault the “corrupt” French police chief who must answer to the Nazis while maintaining his friendship with Rick and his loyalty to France. But that’s as much of the plot as you’re getting out of me.
What I found really enjoyable in this film was the rapid-fire dialogue. Like Aaron Sorkin’s “Sportsnight” or Joss Whedon’s “Angel” (and I wouldn’t be surprised to find out that this film influenced their writing styles), some lines (and jokes) go so fast that unless you’re really paying attention, you’ll miss them. And I really liked that. To me it felt like the filmmakers didn’t view their audience as slow-witted idiots. They had faith that we could follow along and enjoy the film.
Another aspect of the film that I loved was the facial expressions. The camera lingered on some of the characters and let their nonverbal expressions tell more than any verbalized dialogue could have conveyed. And honestly, this aspect of performance has been overlooked by a lot of modern filmmakers in favor of blank stares, overacting and wooden dialogue from the performers. I would love to see more films coming out that used this performance aspect.
But for me, the most enjoyable aspect of the film was easily Claude Rains and his performance of Captain Renault. He was wonderful as the Prefect of Casablanca. He played Renault as both charming and rude at the same time (smiling as he insulted people in and cheerful manner). And he seemed to get almost all of the best lines in the film.
Speaking of lines… as I was watching this film, I heard the characters saying all of the old clichéd lines of dialogue that have been parodied, quoted, re-quoted, lampooned and used to sell cleaning products and (at first) it made me roll my eyes. But then I remembered that this was the first time that these lines were used. They weren’t trying to parody some other film with these. After I came to that realization, it was much easier to enjoy those parts of the film (but Rick does say “Here’s looking at you, kid.” an awful lot).
There was another thing about the film that also struck me, and that was its patriotic nature. No one in the film picked up a U.S. flag and waved it around, (in fact it never even dealt with U.S. patriotism) but it showed how important faith and love for one’s country is. It didn’t get into politics and endorse any particular candidate or their agenda (although it was anti-Nazi, but who in their right mind isn’t?). It just showed how losing one’s country doesn’t mean that the ideals the country was founded on are lost. In fact, the best scene that dealt with this was when the Nazis were in Rick’s bar and they began singing the German national anthem. Paul Henreid’s character of Victor Laszlo incites the band and they begin playing the French national anthem. Soon all the patrons of the bar (except the Nazis) join in and by the power of their love for their country and the sound of their voices, the Nazis are drowned out and they stop singing their anthem in mid-song. It’s a wonderful moment that metaphorically showed that the Allies could win WWII and defeat the Axis powers (and this came out just after the U.S. had entered the war). Which is exactly the message that I think the filmmakers were aiming for. They wanted to inspire the viewer and give them hope.
All in all, it was an excellent film. I’ll be adding it to my collection. It has so many things about it that are appealing and many subtle moments that I just loved. My thanks to D_Davis for the idea of GBDay which spurred me to check this film out. And my thanks to Neva and Jason for letting me watch their copy as well as engaging with me in the insightful discussion that followed our viewing of the film. Would I recommend this film to people? Absolutely! However, most people have already seen it. But seriously, it’s a beautiful and moving film. The romance, the drama, the comedy, the tragedy all blend together to form a true cinematic piece of art. And everyone needs a little art in their lives.
