More than a classic

Rating: 10/10 (25 December 2008)

There's one aspect of Casablanca that is seldom if ever discussed. Every character in the movie has made choices out of necessity rather than desire and yet the entire movie centers around desire.
Humphrey Bogart's, Rick, settles in Casablanca after being on the run with Sam, his piano man who has very little choice but to follow him. Bergman's, Ilsa, who is torn from Bogart in Paris, leaves him out of necessity when she learns her husband who she thought was dead is alive.
Ilsa's husband played by Paul Henreid, is a non-reluctant political mercenary, taking refuge in Casablanca.
In the background there is Louie, the French prefect, who also by necessity plays the aggressive supporter of Vichy France and yet has no love for his superiors.
In the background is the oppressiveness of the German army in a town where every non-native is there out of necessity, trying to free themselves from the yoke of German viciousness.
Thus is the backdrop where desire must heed to necessity against a menace out to crush both. A truly remarkable film with remarkable performances that have gone on to be more than a timeless classic but rather a thread in the fabric of every American. It carries messages that may seem lost on today's youth but still provides timeless lessons.