Madness, Cowardice, Glory - War in a Nutshell Kubrick Style...

Rating: 10/10 (13 April 1999)

There is no glory in Stanley Kubrick's PATHS OF GLORY, a devastating anti-war film that looks at the Generals who command soldiers as cowards themselves. How dare these pampered men who will leave the war without a scratch practically order their soldier's slaughter? This is the conflict posed by Kubrick with the help of Kirk Douglas, who quite frankly is mesmerizing as the Colonel of the 701st Division ordered to take an anthill they probably have no chance of taking. Adolphe Menjou is the sadistic General who Douglas must fight for the right of his soldiers' souls as well as his own. We are able to take an introverted look at the madness of war. Cowardice is frowned upon by governments, but how do you decide what it is in such inhuman conditions.
Kubrick shows his talents as a master of atmosphere and looming death in this classic of WWI. The French are the symbol and a possible execution is the tool with which Kubrick stirs our emotions. Unlike his later films, we have some pretty realistic characters here. Douglas is the only man with a head on his shoulders and is so passionate about the cruel injustice proposed by the spiteful General he seems willing to die himself. The court scene contains some of the movie's most memorable emotional moments, but check out the 1957 war sequence. Kubrick had a definite vision as to how he was going to pull this off. Shot in Germany, the French soldiers go through a frightening, revolutionary experience. Deep explosions pulsate the soundtrack, soldiers are blown to bits, and cowardice is nowhere to be found. The mere possibility of a soldier's "recollections" under such hellish conditions cannot be taken as gospel.
The attempt on the German anthill is truly something to see, another feather on the cap of Kubrick, who would create the most amazing boot-camp sequence in film history roughly 30 years later in FULL METAL JACKET. Compared to that film, PATHS OF GLORY is much more effective at portraying a precise vision of the abomination of war. Whether its the French, or the Russians, it is all the same. Worthless when unnecessary, tragic when waged. Ralph Meeker is great as one of the Corporals on trial for "cowardice" in the face of the enemy. At one point, he asks a priest to leave him alone and basically betrays the thought of God in the face of what he is going through. Pretty deep stuff, I must say. PATHS OF GLORY is one of the best war films ever made.
RATING: 10 of 10