Reel Look: 'Casablacna'

Rating: 8/10 (14 January 2015)

"Here's looking at you, kid." The year 1940 signaled a final turning point for isolationism. German military successes in Europe prompted nationwide American rethinking about its posture toward the war. Even if America did manage to repel invasions, its way of life might wither if it were forced to become a garrison state. Isolationism now became involvement, as thousands of brave soldiers battled their way through many historical battles and a fight for ultimate freedom. Franklin Roosevelt convinced a largely isolationist Congress to pass the Land-Lease Act, allowing the U.S. to sell or lend war materials to "any country whose defense the President deems vital to the defense of the United States." A true war was occurring, and the American people would never dream of succumbing to the Nazi way. However, it seemed that people across the world were all in a whirlwind of discomfort and desperation to survive. These changes, also portrayed by Rick Blaine (Humphrey Bogart), truly captivates what terror has been wrought upon the souls of Europe, and how anxious people captivated by dread and by just living one more day was a miracle in and of itself. But how did this whole outbreak of escaping and massacre soften Rick to a point where he finally did stick his neck out to a desperate couple in breaking free from the world in which he knew that ultimately became a matter of life and death? Let's take a look.
From the play 'Everybody Comes to Rick's' by Murray Burnett and Joan Alison, the film opens to early December 1941, where we meet American expatriate Rick, the proprietor of an upscale nightclub and gambling den in the titular African district entitled "Rick's Café Américain". From here we eventually learn that Rick is the sole ticket out of this place back to the States, of whom Rick looks over concerning problems of his own. He is suave, cool and likable, but sticks his neck out for no one. But that all changes when a long-lost love Ilsa Lund (the beautiful Ingrid Bergman) appears in his section of Morocco after a hiatus of many years (Play it, Sam.). Later, Rick sits in his darkened café at the counter of his bar, a drink in front of him to numb the pain of the memories of his past love life that and dwindled away to the present war that soured and choked out the world he once knew to cherish around him only to be replaced with death and despair. A puff of smoke dances and swirls around him as he pounds his fist down on the countertop in frustration to when he recalled simpler times to the tinny tunes of his house pianist Dooley Wilson's (Sam) somber melody (the clinking of champagne glasses compared to the sounds of gunfire). "Of all the gin joints in all the towns in all the world...". Rick can simply not get his mind off of Ilsa, of whom he had seen earlier after years of absence, this time with a new lover by her side named Victor Laszlo (Paul Henreid). But Ilsa, still having feelings for Rick, needs him only to transport her and her husband back to America via passports. Rick, as mentioned before, sticks his neck out for no one, and is internally bitter at Ilsa for marrying Laszlo do to his unspoken feelings he has still kept for her all these war-torn years but has yet failed to confess. When Isla points a gun point-blank at Rick much later in the film out of utter desperation after asking him over and over for the letters of departure, Rick still keeps his cool. He knows that he would soon die anyway there and tells her that she would be doing him a personal favor. Near the end of the film a gun is pointed again, this time by Rick at a German captain as he tells him to get away from the phone. Upon refusing, Rick shoots him and the captain falls to the ground in cold blood. As Claude Reins' Captain Louis Renault, after witnessing such an act orders to his troops when they arrive on the scene to "Round up the usual suspects!" with Rick standing right beside them, is priceless. With flashbacks of Rick and Ilsa to easier times and days when they could enjoy each other's love and company to their present departure as Ilsa is about to head back to America on a plane with Laszlo, a story like this can still have some romance amidst a murky world surrounded by war, can't it? It's at least something Rick has left to hold on to when its all he has to stay sane in a flavorless period in history.
Ranked as one of the greatest films of all time, winning Oscars for Best Script, Producer and Director by the great Michael Curtiz, 'Casablanca' is a spectacular film in and of itself and a truly remarkable albeit bittersweet love story with a mix of humor of a beautiful bond that can never be between two estranged souls but remains alive and unbroken for both to share and to hold forever in their hearts. This film, for me, will always remain a true classic and for all movie lovers alike, and, with each viewing, will only become more wonderful as time goes by.