Casablanca

One of my all time favorite movies is Casablanca. I don't think any other classical movie has the same qualities as this one. It’s known for the stars, the story and famous lines, but also something more.  Humphrey Bogart plays his first romantic leading role as Rick Blaine- a character who finds himself faced with a choice between love and virtue. Ingrid Bergman’s role as Ilsa Lund has been described as luminous, and has been referred to as her most famous and enduring role.  This was her first major success. Paul Henreid, an immigrant form Austria, plays Isla’s husband, Victor Laszlo.  While the movie depicts two common human emotions both of love and something greater than love such as integrity for one’s country, the movie is also very much about a place of transit to try and escape the brutality of the Nazi regime.  The movie portrays historical events because it was shot during World War II (and released in 1942).

There are a few reasons that Casablanca is different to typical Hollywood movies. There is not a happy ending, or at least a predictable ending.  The main character does not choose the love of his life.  He chooses to give up spending the rest of his life with Isla to fight for the liberty of his nation.  Second, the movie does not follow a typical plot line.  Rather than an initial undisturbed situation followed by a climax and return to a stable state, the movie changes from equilibrium to disequilibrium to a new equilibrium.   The new equilibrium is almost like acceptance of unrest.  The move ends remaining in chaos, as the war continues and most of the European refugees do not reach America.  Casablanca depicts the world during wartime because in reality, it was.  The movie takes place in Morocco and represents Morocco as a messy, wild, unsafe place.  In fact, the movie is historically inaccurate because it fails to include Morocco’s resistance against the French colonizer.  The failure of including Morocco’s identity, the plot line of the movie, and the final resolution, or lack of resolutions, combine to create a truly unique film, Casablanca.