Casablanca

Until last night, I have only seen short bits and pieces of this classic. I finally was able to take time out and see the whole film from beginning to end. What a classic!

"You must remember this, a kiss is still a kiss..."Rick Blaine runs the Café Americain in Casablanca. He has escaped from Nazi-occupied France to Vichy-controlled Morocco which is a hotbed of intrigue. He now poses as a friendly publican, a simple man of business.At first it seems that Rick, reflecting the views of most Americans prior to December 7, 1941, is a committed isolationist. He seems to be a selfish man who repeatedly says "I stick my neck out for nobody." When the authorities inquire about his nationality he replies, "I'm a drunkard."Ilsa, played by the luminous Bergman, and her noble husband Victor Laszlo, both anxious to flee to the United States, arrive in Casablanca disrupting Rick's slow self-destruction. "Of all the gin joints, in all the towns, in all the world, she walks into mine."We ultimately learn that there is much more to Rick than what first appears. He has run guns to the Ethiopian rebels who were resisting Mussolini's invasion of their homeland. In 1935-36 Mussolini, perhaps much like Syria's Assad, did not hesitate to use several hundred tons of mustard gas on the Ethiopians. Italian General Graziani said, "The Duce will have Ethiopia, with or without the Ethiopians."Rick has also volunteered to fight on the Loyalist side in the Spanish Civil war. Was he perhaps in the Abraham Lincoln brigade? Did he meet Hemingway, Orwell (Homage to Catalonia, or even Errol Flynn (My Wicked, Wicked Ways: The Autobiography of Errol Flynn)while in Spain fighting against Franco? The screenplay does not tell us.In spite of his personal heartbreak, it turns out that Rick has a heart after all; he is a humanitarian. He rescues a Bulgarian beauty who is considering selling herself to the lecherous Captain Renault by letting her husband win at roulette. "Boss, you've done a beautiful thing."Rick's response is, "Get outta here, you crazy Russian!" Was he thinking of...Putin?The Bulgarian newlyweds had fled their country in 1942 hoping to make their way to America. She explains to Rick that in her country, "Things are very bad there. The devil has the people by the throat...We do not want our children to grow up in such a country." Today about 2 million people, including many children, have fled Syria looking for safety from their civil war. The devil surely has Syria by the throat today; such a pity that the Syrian rebels do not seem to be led by Victor Laszlo!In the summer of 1941 most Americans had doubts about sending American boys to die in a "European" civil war. Sending arms to Stalin who had made a pact with Hitler, invaded Poland in 1939 from the east, annexed the Baltic Republics, attacked neutral Finland in 1940 and slaughtered his own people seemed to be a crazy notion. Hitler and Stalin seemed that summer to be like two scorpions in a bottle that America had no business touching. FDR, with a generosity of spirit similar to Rick Blaine, supported Soviet Russia with lend lease anyway.The question of the hour is, "Which way does the wind blow now in the Café Americain of 2014/2015?" Many Americans are weary of war. Rick felt deceived by Ilsa in Paris, but viewers learn that it is a bit more complicated than that. Many Americans, mistakenly in my view, believe that we were lied into intervention in the Iraq war (forgetting, for example, the tons of enriched Uranium sold to the Canadians). Many Americans are, quite justifiably, sceptical about their own government.Given our own frayed emotions over divisive issues of war and peace, "Who is going to do the thinking for us on with regard to Syria ISIS and the middle east?" The U.S. Congress? It seems rather doubtful that the 535 Solons in Congress will match Humphrey Bogart's understated heroism? Most members of Congress bear a greater resemblance to opportunists such as Sidney Greenstreet (Signor Ferrari) or Peter Lorre (Ugarte). Do Americans really have a coherent plan to "do a beautiful thing" in the middle east or anywhere in the world for that matter? Is that, in any sense, even possible?An answer begins, perhaps, to form. If Obama and Putin, working together, could remove WMD from Syria without resort to violence that would indeed be a "beautiful thing." If the US could bomb Tehran with DVDs of Homeland: Season 3 that led to a peaceful coup and regime change. You may say I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the only one. One can only hope.Will we follow neo-Isolationists (libertarians) in our determination not to "stick our neck out for nobody"? Or will we follow a policy of engagement with all the risks that this can entail (shooting major Strasser always has consequences)?Do the fundamental American things (love of freedom, compassion for suffering humanity and willingness to act) "still apply" in our decisions about foreign policy?At the conclusion of Casablanca, Rick and Captain Renault walk off into the distance saying "Louie, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship." One of the few bits of good news to emerge from the Syrian conundrum is that the United States and her oldest ally, France, seem to have re-established a "beautiful friendship" that was sorely tested by Chirac's intransigence over Iraq. Francois Hollande has now become Obama's poodle and best friend.Christopher Kelly, author, with Stuart Laycock, of America Invades: How We've Invaded or been Militarily Involved with almost Every Country on Earth and Italy Invades and An Adventure in 1914: An American Family's Journey on the Brink of WWI

Each holiday, I try to treat myself to a classic movie from the past that I have not seen for a long time. I chose to watch Casablanca from an order of the 70th Anniversary edition that I just had not taken time to watch. Having a daughter in college minoring in History and taking French prompted me to focus on this extraordinary movie that triangulates, greed, love, patriotism, history and culture within the framework of a brilliant script and extraordinary acting within a World War II setting and historical correlation.The opportunity to consider the meaning of Casablanca at this age of my life caused me to reexamine the characters beyond the memorable lines in the movie toward the thematic conclusion of transcending selfishness over a profound purpose for humanity. If I had written this review of the movie as a student, then I would have been trying to explain the mood, setting, character, effect, timing and other required features of a movie critique. However, as a father of a daughter and educator, my lens are colored by time and hopes that human good will prevail for the human race through STEAM education (Science-Technology-Engineering-Arts-Math). At this time, I am writing this review for my daughter because I want her and those of her emerging generation and educators of the next generation to try and see the acting in Casablanca as a platform to understand the measure of human beings trying to live through the conditions that can be metaphorically displayed in all human relationships and organizations that cause us to live through the woes of physical, psychological or intellectual warfare. From an educational perspective, I posit that Casablanca exudes the need to correlate the movie's great acting, content, context and time in history with the idea of honor and real patriotism. For me, the role Humphrey Bogart profoundly portrayed in Casablanca demonstrated, particularly in the final scene at the airport runway (I believe there is value in starting the movie at the end and then watching the movie from its beginning with the essential question: Why did he do that?), the moment when all men and women must choose the greater good over the selfish desires of the heart.I believe that Humphrey Bogart, as some professional critics and movie junkies might suggest, was an actor's-ACTOR! However, I believe that Rick, the character in Casablanca portrayed by the legendary Mr. Bogart, gives us a chance to witness honor, valor, virtue and a deeper moral consciousness shielded by the pain of perceived or profound betrayal, than we often find in our contemporary era of "get mind" or "destroy others to advance my personal or political or social cause!"I ask my daughter and youth to watch Casablanca through the lens of the significant points made about Rick and the choices he made at the end, according to the script writer's interweaving in the lines espoused about him from his dossier, described by the characters portrayed by the German Officer and French police officer where they referenced his past to include his actions in 1935 ( i.e. research the history of how "Italy began its World War II offensive when Benito Mussolini ordered his troops into Abyssinia in October 1935," cited from http://history.howstuffworks.com/world-war-ii/buildup-to-world-war-25.htm), 1936 (i.e The Civil War in Spain) political and human rights efforts.The classic lines in the movie, namely "here's looking at you kid," can be a metaphor for all of us who struggle with making the decision to give up our desires for the notion of the greater good for our youth to believe that we stand for something greater than ourselves (they are looking at us!). Sometimes, we give into the needs of those who are knowingly using our heart to advance their cause and can use our love, loyalty, core values or response to a person to seek our aid, support, skills or assets at our personal expense or beliefs. At this stage and age of life, viewing Casablanca evokes the centrifugal feature of head with heart or head reshaping or refining the essence of what causes the heart to beat. The French police Captain suspected that Rick was a sentimentalist under the neutral trappings of the salon-night club entrepreneur.For educators, each time the nature of our work causes us to believe that we need to accept mistreatment as professionals to advance educational opportunity, we can truly look at the products of our educational efforts and really say: "take these lessons and use them to advance civilization." From the educational lens of this review of Casablanca revisited, I believe that Bogart's character learned a lesson and taught us a lesson in the movie as the character, Rick, sent the passion from his life away in the role of the woman he loved (Ingrid Bergman's character) who had stampeded over his heart with the man that, seemingly held her head through purpose, over her heart safely toward freedom. Hence, for educators, especially those teachers of children, Bogart's classic line is a metaphor for our work each day we teach: "Here's looking at you kid!" I suggest the metaphorical lesson of the movie's conclusion and its central characters' desires versus their perceived values during World War II (i.e. note the character and values displayed in the role portrayed Claude Rains throughout the movie and his closing lines to Bogart at the very end of the the movie) teaches us the perplexing value of giving up the carnal desires of the heart for a greater purpose. Somehow, I believe that the human race is still trying to struggle with the notion of truth through the lens of true purpose versus true love of selfish ambition, "as time goes by," even as we live 72 years later!

I love classic films and this is one that is a true gem from beginning to end. This film is in black and white starring Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman, it takes place during Word War 2, and its a must watch.

I just watched this movie again after many years — from the very beginning. Such a well told movie with different characters and different emotions. An interesting time in history. I recommend this movie.

Great movie! Finally seeing it all these years later!