“Louis, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship.”
One of the most famous scenes in the history of movies is the final scene of Casablanca. A 1942 World War II movie centered in the city of Casablanca, Morocco, Casablanca follows the character Rick Blaine as he tries to live a normal life amongst the realities of the War; his attempts are complicated when a former lover comes to Casablanca with her husband, an avid underground adversary of the Nazi party. Suddenly, Rick is forced to choose where his loyalties really lie. I classified Casablanca as both an Individual vs. Society and a Man vs. Himself film.
I had always heard that Casablanca was a great film, but it far exceeded my expectations. There were so many layers, and they were all intertwined. Rick tries very hard to keep himself out of all things related to the War, but Ilsa ultimately pulls him into it simply because her husband plays such a key role in it. There’s the back-and-forth between Rick and Louis, the incredibly corrupt head of police in Casablanca; you don’t really know if they will help each other or turn on each other until the very end. There’s the reoccurring theme of the song “As Time Goes By”, and the dueling national anthems scene depicts perfectly the underlying issue of which side of the War Casablanca is really on. Even though the film was in black and white, there was a lot of color imagery (Rick: “Are my eyes really brown?”, the Blue Parrot bar, etc.), and there were a lot of attempts at playing off of viewers’ senses of sight and sound. I hadn’t realized how much you can do with lighting in a black and white film until we watched Citizen Kane; Casablanca did a lot with lighting as well.
I had always heard that Casablanca was a great film, but it far exceeded my expectations. There were so many layers, and they were all intertwined. Rick tries very hard to keep himself out of all things related to the War, but Ilsa ultimately pulls him into it simply because her husband plays such a key role in it. There’s the back-and-forth between Rick and Louis, the incredibly corrupt head of police in Casablanca; you don’t really know if they will help each other or turn on each other until the very end. There’s the reoccurring theme of the song “As Time Goes By”, and the dueling national anthems scene depicts perfectly the underlying issue of which side of the War Casablanca is really on. Even though the film was in black and white, there was a lot of color imagery (Rick: “Are my eyes really brown?”, the Blue Parrot bar, etc.), and there were a lot of attempts at playing off of viewers’ senses of sight and sound. I hadn’t realized how much you can do with lighting in a black and white film until we watched Citizen Kane; Casablanca did a lot with lighting as well.
Rating: 4.5 out of 5. Probably one of the best movies I’ve seen. For a romantic-drama, the movie was surprisingly fast-paced. Don’t blink, or you’ll miss something.
-Caroline
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