Kubrick's Most Moving Film.

Rating: 9/10 (16 January 2007)

It's easy to snare an audience by making a movie about an execution, which is why such movies seem so common -- "Ted Bundy," "I Want to Live", "The Book of Daniel." Sometimes the whole story is about the technical aspects of the execution -- "The Execution of Private Slovick." It may be easier for an audience to identify with someone about to be executed than it is to identify with someone in a particularized conflict. Should Marlon Brando squeal on his friends and employers in "On the Waterfront"? Well, yes, but none of us have ever been in Terry Malloy's shoes nor will we ever be, whereas we are all going to face execution some day. In a sense, the audience is gripped and watches with fascinated horror because it's their own deaths taking place on screen.
"Paths of Glory" centers around the execution by firing squad of three French soldiers during World War I for cowardice in the face of the enemy. They are picked at random from three companies, on the order of a general (George MacReady) and defended in court by their regimental commander Col. Dax (Kirk Douglas). MacReady blames them, instead of himself, for a failed attack against an impossible German position and wants to set an example for the rest of the French army. "If those sweethearts won't face German bullets, they'll face FRENCH ones." And anyway, killing a few of the troops now and again is a boost to their morale.
Kubrick takes full advantage of the dramatic elements adumbrating the three deaths. One soldier is simple-minded and desperate, and he turns to religion, blubbering with fear. One is bitter and combative and gets his skull fractured, so he must be propped up unconscious on a stretcher to be shot. The third is frightened but faces his death with dignity.
That's about as far as the conventional elements go in this superb movie. Facile clichés are avoided. Here's an example of what I mean. One of the prisoners (Ralph Meeker) has been chosen to die by his company commander (Wayne Morris) because Meeker has seen Morris behave like a drunken, murdering coward on a night patrol. Douglas suspects this, and chooses Morris to head the firing squad. Morris, deeply humiliated and remorseful, offers Meeker a blindfold. Meeker says nothing, just snorts in the negative. Morris mumbles that he's sorry, then leaves. A less original treatment of this incident would have Meeker delivering a speech to the cowardly Morris. "I may die now but you'll be dying every day for the rest of your life." (Hey, that's pretty good!) Or maybe, "Forget it, Lieutenant. You'll be joining me soon enough." Something like that, anyway. Instead, Meeker neither absolves him nor heaps calumny upon him. Meeker has something more important on his mind than dealing with this quivering moron and his guilt.
Well, one more example of what I mean by the avoidance of clichés. The court martial adjourns to consider a verdict. Fade to black. Open with the prisoners being marched to the execution posts. No scene in which everyone sits around biting his fingernails and waiting to hear the verdict. Nobody announces the prisoners have been found guilty and nobody sentences them to death. We don't see MacReady smiling villainously or Douglas looking stunned.
I don't want to run out of space so I'll limit this comment to a round of applause for the final scene of anguished French troops getting drunk in a bar, whistling, clapping, pounding on the tables, as a winsome young German girl is brought out by the inn keeper and ordered to sing a song. She begins to sing a German folk song timidly and softly. The soldiers gradually cease their rowdy behavior and listen to her plaintive untrained voice. Except for the pretty girl singing on the stage the bar room becomes utterly still and silent, and then one by one the men begin to hum the little tune along with her. They are all sad and some of them weep. The catharsis is absolutely necessary in a film so filled with tension, anger, and blood.
This is Kubrick's most emotional film and shouldn't be missed. His earlier films were good but derivative and his later films devoid of passion. This one hits all the right notes, and the performances are unimpeachable.