Splendid

Rating: 9/10 (11 January 2003)

I thought I had seen a very rare few of the great movies that have been made. I now trust, I was right.
SPOILERS
Casablanca, a place of transit. People come, people go, like a river that doesn't stop to flow. The circumstances make Casablanca a very important place: France already invaded by the nazi troops, America seems the only way to freedom. Humans reign that city, and humans always have two sides: a sentimental side and a raw picture of themselves.
Casablanca is a love story and it is a drama. It is not one of those love stories we get to see nowadays...it is something special, where actually love does not really prevail. It shows that the individual sometimes has to sacrifice himself in order for humanity to win. Some people are capable of such a sacrifice, others are not.
Rick and Victor are quite the same kind of people, or at least would've been if they had met sooner. Rick changed after Ilsa left him, and he lost his will to fight...probably because there wasn't anyone to support him, because Ilsa wasn't with him. So, when he took the decision at the end he knew why he did that, and he sacrificed himself. He adapted himself to the life in Casablanca, and was doing well there...until Ilsa came along with her husband...
Ilsa was for him Paris, not Casablanca. His time with Ilsa was in Paris. As she left him, he was destroyed, but found the power to keep going. Since then he didn't seem a very friendly character, but he was a good hearted one. His "donation" for the young couple was an act of greatness, and through that he avoided any "less pleasent things" for the young lady.

Victor is fighting for freedom, has suffered a lot, but knows to keep his nerve. He has a great will, and psychical strength, and his role is of a pretty great importance. There wasn't only the war all could see, there was also the war of the already conquered countries. This was a more difficult one, and for the ones who dared to take part in it, it usually meant death.

The "poor" corrupted captain Renault, is a nice character. He is funny, and he is the kind of guy who is on the side of those who have the power. Actually, that is quite cowardly, but he does his job pretty well. He's also got a sense of rightness, but until the end, his job is more important than that. He shows finally that he is a sentimentalist, and that he does know what is right. His decision at the end isn't quite glorious, as he at first warns Strasser, but then, as there weren't any risks involved, he decides to keep to Rick.
The actors are just great, and the whole atmosphere of the movie is unique. You will feel your heart beat, you might fall in love with the characters, and you will feel the tense situations. This movie is definitely one of the best I have ever seen, if not the actual best. In a world that hasn't changed much, where money still makes the laws, love is the thing that can make you survive, and win your battles. This movie is touching...this movie is the only real romance movie I have seen, and It showed to me that I was partly wrong asking myself why only older movies are in some movie standings.