Liberté, égalité, fraternité !

Rating: 9/10 (14 February 2020)

Usually I don't comment or popular classics or war movies, but I absolutely wanted to leave a review for "Paths of Glory" for two principal reasons. First, as a sort of small homage to Kirk Douglas. This great gentleman of Hollywood passed away early 2020 after reaching the more than respectable age of 103. Nevertheless, he will be sorely missed. Secondly, and most important, because not any other movie ever made comes even close to depicting the pure madness and hypocrisy of warfare as accurately and truthfully as Stanley Kubrick's "Paths of Glory". The three words in the subject line of this user-comment represent the widely known moto of the nation of France. Logically interpreted these words imply that all French people are free, equal and live in brotherhood. Well, this moto certainly wasn't yet put into practice during the horrible World War I. During the most shocking sequences, Kubrick masterfully juxtaposes the wealth and luxury of French military generals (fancily dining and waltzing with aristocratic ladies) versus the daily agony the "ordinary" French soldiers are confronted with (suffering and dying in the trenches). These same hypocritic generals give the command for downright impossible attack raids, and then subsequently accuse their troops of cowardice and blame them for their own strategy-incompetence against - around that time - much better organized German army. Douglas impressively portrays the honorable Colonel (and attorney of law) Dax who puts his career and reputation at stake to defend a trio of soldiers put on trial "as an example".
Powerful and extremely compelling war classic, based on a fantastic source novel, but brought to an even higher quality-level thanks to the meticulous directions of Stanley Kubrick and the dazzling performances of an all-star cast. The dialogues in the script are often astonishing and the atmosphere is so intense that you'll find yourself gasping for air. More than sixty years old, but still as effective and breath-taking as ever, "Paths of Glory" is a cinematic classic in the purest definition of the term.