Casablanca film review

Posted: August 12th, 2013

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Casablanca Movie Review

The movie “Casablanca” was set in Morocco in the early 1940s and sometime during the Second World War. It highlights the effects of the war and events surrounding it, as people look for various ways to survive the war. At the same time, people do not lose the essence of what makes them human, and gives them a sense of sanity. They do not give up on love and romance despite the tense situations they are facing. They engage in corruption and crime, as they try to find the best means they can to survive. Throughout the movie, the element of friendship remains real, as it acts as a source of strength to those who find it, especially to those who do not have any power and connections to fall back on during this time of crisis. One never knows whom to trust, as they are never sure of the hypocrites among them. At the end of the day, one has to put his or her trust in her humanity, since he or she cannot do anything much to ensure survival to safety. Casablanca shows that despite any event surrounding history, people do not actually lose their humanity, and they find ways to portray it whenever they can.

In many war movies, it is easy for the viewers to point out the protagonist heroes, the antiheroes and the villains among the characters. Casablanca is one of the complex movies, as many of the characters develop. Some like Rick and Louise develop, and at the end of the day, they become more of the heroes than the villains and antiheroes they were in the beginning of the movie. Rick starts as a person who does not really care about the events surrounding the war. Despite this, people tend to come to his place, as it provides a sense of refuge to those seeking help in Casablanca. Soon the audience learns the cause of his indifference is really because of lost love and heartbreak, a condition that he has not healed from, and which ultimately affects the way he makes decisions. When he meets his lost love and they spend time together, he ends up finding the closure he needs, and this enables him to move on with his life. By the end of the movie, he has become a person who has no interest in what is going on, to one who establishes a political stand and sacrifices his love so that he can help others.

Louise is a corrupt official, whose only initial pleasure is pleasing his government. He openly abuses the power and authority he has, and he takes advantage of his position as an official of the government. He takes bribes from the refugees, and he arrests people for the sake of pleasing the government. He does not arrest Rick or close his bar because he benefits from it. By the end of the movie, he realizes the importance of friendship, and he ends up augmenting his friendship with Rick. He changes his political opinions and sentiments and he ends up supporting the allied forces. He highlights the themes of abuse of power and corruption in the movie. Ilsa represents love and devotion in the movie. She is Rick’s initial love interests, until she stands him up, causing him immense suffering. She then moves on with her life and she gets married to Victor. She dedicates her life to him, even as she helps him escape from the Nazi regime. She helps him find a way out of Casablanca, and despite confessing her love for Rick, she chooses to escape with Victor.

The characters in the movie are believable, and they engage the viewers as they progress from one scene to the next. Each of them acts their part well. They make the viewers feel the intensity of the war, and relate with their desire to escape from Casablanca. The setting is also important, and the use of Rick’s bar as a meeting joint for any person who wishes to meet and socialize with others while networking is important. The ambience of the place, and the way that the characters relate to each other in the bar is believable. The movie helps the modern viewers, who were not present during the war, to understand what the situation was during the time. The arrival of Strasser helps the viewers understand the power of the Germans and the Nazi regime during the time.