An anti-war film, ahead of its time

Rating: 7/10 (14 May 2014)

Paths of Glory was seemingly unsuccessful on initial release. It was also banned by several European countries, France only lifting the ban in the 70's. It was clearly a film which touched a nerve. In the years that followed its release it started to gain its reputation though. By the time of the height of the Vietnam War, the anti-war, anti-authority sentiments of this movie were very much in line with the times and it was embraced fully. Like a few films now considered classics, Paths of Glory was simply out-of-step with its time; as it turned out, it was ahead of its time. Its bitter cynicism and pessimism was hardly the norm for war movies of the 1950's but was certainly in-line with what was to follow in cinema from the late 1960's onwards.
Stanley Kubrick was a master film-maker who made classics in several genres but if there was one he returned to more often it was probably the war film. This one is quite a good companion piece to his later Full Metal Jacket with its anti-war theme. Both films of course look at different ways in which war is terrible; in the latter film it is the way it dehumanises but in Paths of Glory the spotlight is on those who direct events in the background. The military elite are depicted as out of touch and detached. They callously set objectives that they know will result in mass deaths, only really interested in their own reputations. The resultant trial and executions are unforgettably senseless and truly encapsulate the madness of war. Kubrick ends the film on an unusual bitter sweet note though, with the final scene with the German girl who is forced to sing for the French soldiers. They are at first rowdy and intimidating but once the girl starts singing they become quiet and tearful. It's a quite unusual scene but one that strikes a chord even if it is not immediately obvious why it has.
The film that Paths of Glory most resembled to me was All Quiet on the Western Front (1930), which is generally regarded as the first classic movie of the sound era. Both films deal with World War I and both are American features that focus on foreign soldiers. In All Quiet on the Western Front it's the Germans, in Paths of Glory, the French. I am guessing this allowed the film-makers to make anti-war statements and to criticise those in power who orchestrate it, without appearing unpatriotic to America. Whatever the case, the distance allowed both movies to be very damning of war in general and neither criticises the fighting men portrayed no matter the side they are on. Paths of Glory also shares another thing with that older film in that it has an extremely well shot battle scene with a fluid tracking shot of carnage in No Man's Land with explosion going off everywhere and men advancing and falling. It's visually impressive elsewhere too with a gliding camera in the trenches themselves. You can certainly see Kubrick's visual flair here. While the rhythmical soundtrack of beating drums enhances the tension very well. Kirk Douglas, who also produced the film, is fine in the starring role. You may also recognise one of the condemned men, Joe Turkel, who went on to play the sinister bar man in Kubrick's later film The Shining.