Movie romanticism at its best

Rating: 9/10 (4 October 2014)

Casablanca is a desperate place during WWII. Refugees escaping the Nazis travel a back route through Casablanca to Lisbon and then to the free world. Some can go no further than the French colony which is home to scoundrels, smugglers, double dealers, and freedom fighters. Rick Blaine (Humphrey Bogart) is a world wearied expat American who runs a popular nightspot Rick's. He sticks his neck out for nobody. Captain Louis Renault (Claude Rains) leads the local police. He's eager to catch the underground leader Victor Laszlo to please the Germans. Ugarte (Peter Lorre) is a sweaty people-smuggler who is selling 2 letters of transit stolen from 2 German couriers. He gives the valuable letters for Rick to hide. Much to Rick's surprise, Lazslo arrives with his old flame Ilsa Lund (Ingrid Bergman).
It's hard to quantify everything that is so great about this movie. Bogie as the Rick is one of those movie icons that transcends even the movie world. The desperation is well projected. This is melodrama of the highest order and the best of the genre. Sometimes movies come along at the right time. This is a propaganda film at the perfect time where the theme of sacrifice hit hardest. This is the standard bearer for movie romanticism as much as Romeo and Juliet for plays. Some can complain about Paul Henreid's stiffness as Laszlo but that's the point of his character. Some others can complain about the effects but that's missing the point of the movie entirely. Some can complain about all the clichés, and I agree that this movie is one big cliché. So what? In the end, this is a movie that deserves every bit of its iconic status.