Kubrick's Paths of Glory Text by Robert Castle 1. Closed Worlds Paths of Glory 's penultimate scene begins so infuriatingly. The same General has traded his men's lives in an impossible assault on the Ant Hill for a promotion, lost control of himself during the battle, and blamed everyone for the failure to take the Ant Hill except himself. We can't sympathize with him, not even after Broulard betrays him and made Mireau face an inquiry for trying to fire artillery on his own trenches.
Someone has to pay.
Dax bespoke our sentiments. Dax and Broulard were operating not only on different but completely incompatible planes. Broulard's world and rationale were closed to Dax, whereas Broulard could only believe that an officer could function within this closed world. The gulf between Broulard and Dax reflects a similar gulf between a sentimental audience and filmmaker not willing to give this audience what it expects. Kubrick's film and the audience both enter the theater with separate, antagonistic values.