To be or not to be

Rating: 8/10 (25 April 2016)

This film caught the nation's attention mid war, it showed Rick, the isolationist, and the woman that would come back into his life, Elsa, that would be the strong enough to prompt him to reconsider his decision and stance on the war. As an isolationist, he refused to get involved, even in the beginning when someone he was familiar with got arrested in his establishment, right in front of him. Even as the man was gripping Rick's shirt pleading for his assistance, Rick remained nonchalant about the whole matter. And when someone else he was familiar and friendly with saw his lack of involvement and said, "When they come to get me Rick I hope you'll be more of a help", to which Rick calmly and nonchalantly says, "I stick my neck out for nobody", walks away, and goes back to work. But when a blast from the past comes back into his life, Rick is flooded with emotion. First with a piano piece Elsa asks the piano player to play, has Rick storming out of a back room heatedly saying "I thought I told you to never play that song". At which point the player points to Elsa, and from then, a switch is flipped within Rick. The use of heavy shadow or lack of it tells the story almost as much as the words of this timely significant film does. The crime for which Rick was pleaded to aid in exempting the man from political consequence, the crime is to be committed by someone very, very close to Rick's heart. This film follows the change (or lack of) in Rick's mind through use of flashback and the course of action he takes in the film to get to the ultimate end of this film in which the ever changing analytical side of Rick becomes set, in which his motives are brought to light, and is 100% decisive in his ultimate decisions. This film was so extremely culturally significant as there were many Rick's in the world, many Americans in the USA and elsewhere making the decision to distance themselves and be thoroughly uninvolved in the events of war; not even wanting to hear about it and those who were very patriotic, fighting and aiding the war effort. This movie explores that in a very realistic way, and on the surface, a very straightforward way, but more in depth, had an all too common complexity that made it very relatable to its audience.