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"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
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Reviews with images
Classic Movie, Everyone's Favorite
I watched Casablanca for the first time in 1981 and became a huge fan of Bogart and Peter Lorre. I could watch this movie all day and never get tired of it. What Michael Cortiz was able to do is bring out the honesty of the characters who possess great integrity when it comes to valuing human life. The actors do such an incredible job of portraying their uniqueness and vulnerability along with the joint disdain for the lack of humanity in their German adversaries. The German actors are top notch too, emphasizing their lack of empathy and callous disregard during their short reign and their constant desire for control.The main show is Bogart, that voice and Rick's thinly veiled emotional agony that is skillfully shown in the movie's dialogue; "Nobody ever loved me that much," and "Go head and play it, if she can take it so can I." The movie's tempo is amazing, comedic scenes intertwined with emotional pain and real dangers faced by the opponents of the 3rd Reich. The CD has a section with commentaries by two excellent professional film critics / reviewers; do listen to both of them the background information gives the film even more flavor. An example is the Character of Emile, the real life actor was a extremely famous European Leading Man, in Major European Movie Productions, that had to flee during the Nazi invasions. His comedic delivery and dramatic ability excel in this minor part, his facial expressions after Rick instructed him to let a young guy win a large amount of money were intuitive. This movie is the best and shows that great movies are about the people, not the special effects.Any man that had a less than wonderful childhood and faced significant emotional challenges will identify with Rick's character in a big way; I know I did.
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