The ultimate classic

Rating: 10/10 (15 April 2008)

I believe it was Mark Twain that once lamented about his works being called classics, because in his opinion a classic is something that everyone respects but no one ever reads. Or watches, in the case of movies. To a certain extent I agree, because who other than English majors reads The Waste Lands or Heart of Darkness or Hard Times? And who really watches Citizen Kane or The Third Man or Casablanca for the entertainment value?
Well, maybe more people than I think. The Third Man is a hell of a movie. For me, the first half or so of Casablanca was remarkably uninteresting, although the atmosphere created by the war taking place off screen is incredibly well done. I just hope I'm not becoming spoiled by modern film, that's one of my biggest fears.
Casablanca is the last hope for people who can't get to Lisbon to escape from Europe as it descends into war, and because all of the dregs of European society (the people who can't afford to buy their way out) make their way by hook or by crook there, it becomes a sort of a prison where people wait for years for their chance to escape to America.
The movie is so famous and such an enduring classic that it's almost impossible to write a review of it without mentioning some of the memorable lines, which are so famous that they have become a part of modern lore, like "Here's lookin' at you, kid," and of course, "Of all the gin joints in the world"
It's hard to imagine the movie-making world in which the movie was made, but equally fascinating to learn that the people making the movie had no idea that they were making what would become one of the most popular movies ever made. It was a big movie, of course, but it was made on a relatively tight budget, which is something that I wish modern filmmakers would remember. Money has never been what makes great movies. Few people know that anymore.
There is an intensely romantic story in the movie, what must be the best love story in a war film ever made, and it is remarkable how convincing and unpredictable it is. During the first half of the movie, it's easy to think that you can see exactly where it's going, which is most likely the reason I found parts of the first half slow and uninteresting.
But soon there comes a point where you realize that you can't predict the ending. Specifically, this happens when we learn that Ilsa's (Ingrid Bergman) "new" love, the man for whom her romance with Rick (Humphrey Bogart  one of the biggest giants in film history) has to end, is really a good man.
It's a strange love triangle between the three characters, one that many people may find morally repellent, but moving nonetheless. These are real people, not movie characters, and it seems that their amazing level of realism comes across on the screen so smoothly that it's almost by accident.
Ultimately Casablanca is a story about painful sacrifice for the greater good, softened by the assertion that the problems of three little people don't amount to a hill of beans in this crazy world. It's fascinating to consider the reality of that statement as we hurtle through the cosmos suffering the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune. But as we try to find all the answers, it's nice to be able to look back to one of the most tumultuous times in modern history and see three people who know they have to suffer but know the reason why. So often we aren't afforded that luxury in real life.