The first great proto film of Stanley Kubrick

Rating: Null/10 (31 March 2008)

Paths of Glory is the first great proto film of Stanley Kubrick. You can see elements of his style taking hold and developing. The incredible use of set and location, the long tracking shots of the trenches, war, and execution march. His unrelenting storytelling style compared to Hollywood genre conventions; And of course his ending.
Paths of Glory works both as a great human drama and an anti war film. The most mesmerizing moments are when Kurt Douglas' Colonel Dax is defending his men's lives from what he clearly views as an unjust decision. He pours his emotions onto the floor of the ballroom where the court marshal is being held and the French generals put him down every chance they get. While the film's most personal moments are the scenes of the soldier's reactions to their own captivity and their impending doom, they don't want to die. Lastly, and most important, is the film's closing scene.
The ending, to me, has to do with the theme of the young and the powerless sent to die by leaders warriors and generals who themselves do not fight on the battlefield and who do not die in the cold night. There is a world war I poem of amazing power called Dulce Et Decorum Est (which is the first part of a Latin phrase Dulce Et Decorum Est Pa Patria Morie) which means it is sweet and proper to die for one's country. Here are these men, obviously men, who are fighting and dying because they are told they are fighting for France against the enemy Germany. And then a woman is brought out on stage. One of the ENEMY, who can't even speak French. And at first the audience is thinking "oh my god, they're going to rape her" etc. They're going to force her to strip and Colonel Dax is going to have to step in. And then Kubrick does something amazing. She begins to sing a German song. The soldiers don't understand, but they don't need to because the message is clear. She's human... so are they... and they begin singing with her realizing ... why are we killing these people... and yet even with that realization... it's not enough because war goes on and they have to go fight because their leaders tell them to. I think it's a similar statement about how far man can go that is made in 2001 but in a much more compact shorter scene that is cut short because... well... they have orders to return to the front.
There are so many interpretations of the ending but a couple of things bare mind, first of all, the young woman singing the song eventually became Christian Kubrick, his wife of many, many years, they stayed married until his death. When she called Stephen Spielberg to tell Stephen of Stanley's death, Stephen was having a couple of people over for a dinner party, none of them involved with film, and he wanted to show a scene to celebrate Kubrick's life and he chose this scene, a great decision. Special thanks to Jeremy Lum.