Casablanca deserved its fame and is a
rightful classic that I have only now witnessed for myself. With the time frame, plot, acting, script,
composition, music, and cinematography, this work of art has had an undeniable
influence on American culture and thought.
The year it came out was 1942, during World War II. Roosevelt himself even screened the film at
the White house on the last day of 1942 prior to its standard release in
January 1943 according to the review by Tim Dirks. Throughout the film, clear allusions to the
war including speech and appearance of Nazis, Gestapo, concentration camps, and
so forth insert the political issues of this time into the film. The historical context in combination with
the reminder of sacrifices for a greater good, as well as excellent film
elements gives Casablanca a timeless
air.
Color and lighting
were significant assets used by the director.
Even though the film was in black and white, the extent of black and
white made a big difference in scene and character portrayal while symbolizing
who sided with the axis or allies in their political views. Throughout the film, Ilsa and Rick both wear
white, which make them stand out from other actors in the film. It also makes them both more apparently the
leads in the film, while hinting of their being of the allies mindset during the
war. Rick claims to be neutral
throughout the movie, but in the end, he joins the fight for freedom, the great
fight against the Nazis. For Ilsa, she
would often have a glow of white light around her head to emphasize her innocence
in all events for which Rick felt wronged.
As a contrast, the scenes where German, Major Strasser or other men of
the Nazi Party were present—black was more symbolically dominant for their support of the
axis, Hitler, and clarifying the political polarities in presence of 'neutral', Rick,
and patriot ally, Victor Laszlo. This
contrast also persists in the scene location, such as indoor and outdoor. Particularly, lights were brighter during the
merriness that would occur in Rick’s saloon to deliberately form an escape from
the harder outside world of Casablanca, while sheltering chaos and illegal
dealings in the open. Whether day
or night, darker tones would be provided outdoors in order to express the feel
of entrapment for refugees in the city.
Through the
cinematography, the angles and music used in the film had their own subtle
influence on the way scenes were received.
When characters were in conversation, all those involved in the
conversation would be in the frame shot, but emphasizing the person speaking by
using a close-up, or an over-the-shoulder shot.
The scene where Ilsa tries to get the visa papers off of Rick is a well
done example of conversational transition and display of femme fatale. She begins by attempting
to reason, then resorting to using force where her face is shown as she speaks
while Rick lights a cigarette and looks down with an indication of unpleasant
surprise on his face in combination with the violin strings played. The film then reverts back to Ilsa in a
medium body shot with a gun in her hand.
Conversations happen throughout the whole film with well done
transitioning and signaling of what to look for from the actors’ speech and
expressions.
The film’s frame
is also well done from the framing of the beginning to the walk out of Renault
and Rick in the end. In the start of the
film, a globe is spinning with an ominous narrator speaking, and zooms in onto political
maps of the refugee trail from Vichy occupied France, continuing on down to
Casablanca, Morocco, then begins clips of the actual, refugee-filled streets of
the city itself, capturing the life of the refugees as they wait for a chance to
go to America, via Lisbon, Portugal.
Most of the story from the beginning to end is done in the present, with
the exception of Rick’s flashback into his memories of Paris.
Even though I was
personally shocked to find out through both reviews by Dirks and Ebert that the
ending where Ilsa leaves with Laszlo instead of Rick was not planned from the
beginning, I would have to agree that the writers, Julius J. Epstein, Philip G.
Epstein, and Howard Koch, could not have made a better decision in order to
close the plot with an almost open end. During
Renault’s and Sam’s beginning of a beautiful friendship, the camera changes
from a low shot to a high shot, to restore the omnipotence of the audience, as
they are but two small figures in the greater cause of the war, and we are but
those to watch what happens to them as they disappear into the foggy, yet white
and hopeful unknown of the flight runway.
From beginning to end, every element of this film is thought out and
placed carefully to achieve its means of expressing and narrating the story of
the lives of a few in Casablanca
during World War II—and in its own way, may have inspired the prevail of the allies
in taking down the axis powers.
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