I look at Rick and Victor as I look at the states they represent.
Rick is isolationist. He sticks his neck out for nobody. Just like America, which found
pride in their neutrality until President Harry Truman decided to kick things up
a notch. Victor is Czech. I would like to classify him as an ideal liberal. At
the time of Casablanca, people were either for or against fascism. They only had
two sides to cross: into the Vichy turf or into the concentration camp. The rest
of the time, people tried very hard to tread into the thin, fine thread that
divides both--much like Captain Renault.
Most Americans believed that the United States should stay out of the war in
Europe. This is a heartfelt belief cautiously passed around (for fear of earning
the ire and capturing the interest of--God forbid--the Nazis) and not thrown,
just like the way Herr Hitler told every leader during his time that the Nazis
will take over more land and more countries. America went into war during the
Pearl Harbor bombing. However, it did not create much terror for the fifty
states--except maybe for the Japanese citizens in America put in concentration
camps. Many Americans continued to support an isolationist foreign policy, and
were uneasy about wars overseas. Through the history of film and literature, we
would know that despite the United States' adamant neutrality, much propaganda
material against the war was also released. This shows that even if America is
not involved in the great big fight, it still sticks to its principles--freedom,
liberty, the home of the brave. Many war stories about America running guns to
the Allied forces, printing news against the Nazi, extending secret aid to the
war became famous when the fight was all over.
I believe that Rick is somewhat a poster boy for what America stood for during
the war. Of course, at this time and age, a more aggressive, powerful America
plays the war game. However, I know many people will agree with the old America.
Rick was everything America was back then. He was principled and full of morale.
He lived the ideal American way: respected by the people, a top earner, tough
but compassionate, a sheep in wolf's clothing and most of all: a believer of
freedom and liberty. Even if his belief in the cause was not as evident as
Laszlo's, one knows that his passion is fervent and burning. It is still there,
somewhere. Only waiting for a catalyst that will trigger him to go back to his
old ways. Old habits die hard, they say. People who watch Casablanca can
definitely relate to Rick. I know that we all feel complacent at times, but when
there is a chance to do more than we ought to, we find ways to help out. Rick is
the perfect example of courage under fire, grace under pressure. Most of us,
whether we admit it or not, long for the composure Rick has. I, for one, would
like his bravery and mystique. He is the perfect example of American. At a
glance, passive but in a nutshell, a master of all trades. He has a lot going on
for him but despite this, he found ways to help those in need. He still had
nationalism, even in a place as hopeless as Casablanca. This is so appealing to
the people watching the movie. I think it's also the reason why Rick is more
lovable than Victor Laszlo despite the latter's noble cause. In a way, the way
the characters were written softened the movie's stance on war. It also helped
the audience to think and keep interested enough to sit through the movie.
In Casablanca, the gravity of the war is felt but it is not blatantly thrown
around. It is ultimately felt, yes. However, the existence of the war appealed
not through machine guns or the amount of ammunition lost and acquired but in
the families affected, lovers ripped apart and the noble people reduced to work
for very low wages. Rather than appealing to the people's intellect, Casablanca
chose the complete opposite: it tried to touch the hearts of the audience, of
human emotion. In 1942, people were either out of work because of the Great
Depression and some of them might have been new settlers in America. Casablanca
did the right thing. The movie came out not as heavy as most war films, but is
still full of sentiment. It is interesting to note that melancholy on the screen
is almost always welcome in American films. As welcome as feel good romances or
heavy action movies, Casablanca's plot was well suited for the period. It was
enough to touch hearts and tickle the people's fancy but not enough to rouse
immense scrutiny and suspicion from the government. The elements of the movie
soften the war by utilizing the idea as somewhat just a lingering thought. It is
there but then again, not really. The proverbial "Elephant in the Room" made the
issue of war constant but not to the point that it made people sick and
depressed.
The language in Casablanca softened the movie because it leaned on the poetic
side. I found some of the lines cheesy yet acceptable. I wouldn't appreciate
such lines from Ilsa Lund had the movie been set in a modern setting or in a
light-hearted type of romance. However, the situation in Casablanca is dire and
the language softened it by beautiful, well-constructed phrases and so many
quotable quotes. In a way, it gave heart to what is such a merciless, possibly
even hopeless situation that faced the people in Casablanca. The wit of Rick
Blaine, the deeply passionate words of Victor Laszlo, even the twisted,
so-wrong-but-so-right phrases from Captain Renault was the right mix of sense
and humor. The message was clearly passed on through the language. Freedom is
not one man's fight, but everyone's cause. War is evil. The philosophies and
perspective of every character (which strangely so, seemed to represent a
distinct race trait: Blaine as America, Laszlo as the typical European left-wing
liberal, Renault as the "neutral" French, even Ugarte as the Moroccan man who
profits from the surplus of rich people in Casablanca) were clearly felt and
known through the banter. The wit and the perfect mix of serious and silly (the
Professor in Rick's Café American had very little speaking roles, however I have
known him to be a man of principle and a very entertaining waiter) The language
was enough to inspire patriotism to the audience but not to an extent that it
will cause aggression. It encourages the audience to think rather than make them
feel much anger.
The actions in Casablanca, like the language, were also subdued but very
effective. I think most of the characters were polar opposites, even Rick and
Laszlo. It also helped that one cannot be not distracted from the beauty of
Ingrid Bergman. I found myself, at times, entranced by just how gorgeous she is.
I think the great fact about Casablanca is that though action was kept to a
minimal (because the only "action" it had were shoot out and arrest scenes),
there is an underlying thought regarding the gravity of the situation. The
audience is forced to connect the dots. However, the actions of the character
pan it out for the viewer. Desperation in the people, a silent brewing hatred
for the Vichy-Nazi, even a love that was once lost and ultimately, found—these
are a few of the actions not explicitly stated in the movie but is felt. In a
way, no matter how adoring audiences are, I know not a handful of them would
want to be caught in the turmoil that is Casablanca. The scenarios in the movie
give the audience that "Never again!" vibe, which is probably why pop culture
and the media have such strong influences on political views.
The musical scoring had two very remarkable scenes, Sam's As Time Goes By and the battle between Le
Marseilles and The Watch on Rhine. However, these are the only scenes where I
felt the music (I counted out It Had To Be You because it is a sentimental song
for me, however I have no idea if it appealed to others as much as it did to me)
playing a major role in the scene. Oddly enough, it works! Both of the scenes
were such pivotal points in the movie. The first can make audiences feel the
pain of the love lost between Rick and Ilsa and the latter was so moving, even I
felt a little bit of that burning fervor and passion inside me while I was
watching it. Again, with music, time is of the essence. Casablanca was shown in
a time where people are still rebuilding their lives after the war, and
consequently, the sentiments about these musical scenes in Casablanca would be
so high. I also felt that those scenes were necessary to make Casablanca easy to
digest. So much is said in just those two scenes! I think that's the power of
music in encouraging passion and patriotism from the audience. It speaks of the
things words cannot. The music in the movie is passionate, but definitely not
revolting. They are safe pieces. The producers and the writers could've chosen
subversive songs such as the ode to Herr Hitler or the propaganda songs against
the Nazi but they didn't. It was, again, up to the audience to feel for
themselves and listen closely.
I also felt the setting softened the movie to a great deal. In reality,
Casablanca is hellish in circumstance, but the beauty of the Moorish
architecture and the people that flock it have made Casablanca seem so
beautiful. It was as if the place is an ideal destination, a vacation setting
that although hell awaits its people, the mere beauty of the place has elevated
it into a somewhat acceptable version of a purgatory. Again, the people can feel
the turmoil of the place while the audience was left half as entranced with the
place itself just as they were with the movie's story.
The whole movie is not about launching, pushing forward, loading and re-loading
guns. It's about looking back to the past. It's about upholding the values
people once had and totally lost, the liberty, the sweet luxury once known as
peace, the personalities people once were before the war, the ideals they had
before power hungry motives disillusioned them—the movie is about all of these
things, and more. I view it as a passive-aggressive movie. Maybe it's the
censorship. Maybe it was made that way. However, the very thing that tried to
curtail it was the one that made it shine the brightest. The film reminds me of
a silent dog. It rarely barks or growls but it left a vicious, most ferocious
bite. It left a poison so rabid that the movie gave the audience of 2009 the
same passion those who viewed it in 1942 felt. One with a passion and a morale
so intense that people will probably never forget about it, here in this life or
the next.
