A Masterpiece

Rating: Null/10 (9 July 2008)

Paths of Glory (1956)
**** (out of 4)
Stanley Kubrick's masterpiece anti-war drama centers on a Colonel (Kirk Douglas) who led a group of soldiers on a suicide mission but when the troops refuse to leave the trenches, three of them are hand picked to be executed on grounds of cowardice. I think sometimes it's easy to forget the pure genius of Kubrick and to me this was the first of many masterpieces that he'd deliver throughout his career. On a technical level this film is flawless from start to finish and this is certainly one of the greatest movies in its genre. There are so many brilliant scenes here that it's really shocking that such a young and fresh director could come off with something like this. There are many memorable scenes in the film but I suppose to most famous ones are the tracking shots following various men inside the trenches. Kubrick keeps the camera in front of the men and tracks them as they walk and the atmosphere this effect brings to the screen hasn't been matched from any war film that I've seen. This technique really builds a strange and claustrophobic nature that puts you right there in the action and gives you a sense of how tight these quarters are. The actual battle scene is also quite beautiful because it really doesn't center on any one piece of the action going on. Instead the camera just floats as the men try to capture their target and the swooping camera really gives you a bigger feeling of the battle. This scene comes off remarkably well considering the budget Kubrick was working with. The film is incredibly powerful with its messages on war and humans and all of this comes together beautifully in the finale, which is very haunting and touching. I think what made Kubrick a genius of his craft was the fact that he had a lot of guts and it's easy to see this with the ending, which doesn't end in a typical way. The final song was something very tricky to pull off yet Kubrick does so wonderfully well and really hits a home run with the message. Finally, the film contains some of the greatest acting you're going to see in the film with Douglas leading the way as the Col. who then must turn defender to try and keep the three men alive. The restraint nature Douglas shows perfectly fits the character but when his rage finally explodes, there's really no one better at doing this type of acting. George Macredy really steals the film as the General who wants the men executed and really becomes one of the most hated villains in film history.