Thursday, June 13, 2013

"Casablanca," Nick Manolis


            From the very beginning, Casablanca presents itself as quite an ambitious film for the early 1940s time period.  The graphic of the spinning globe, along with the narration, provide viewers with a condensed idea of a rather complex backdrop to the overall story.  With that said, Casablanca’s setting is sensitive in that the film’s basis centers itself within the time frame of World War II.  So too its release in 1942, making it hard to believe that the film amounted to any success at the box office, considering the probability that society at the time preferred not to be reminded of a war going on.  After all, the theater was considered a means of escape.  However, Casablanca avoids displaying itself as a means of “escape” to hide the thought of war.  When the audience is introduced to the character of Rick Blain, the owner of “Rick’s Café Casablanca,” there’s a sense of emptiness felt within him by the way in which he composes himself and interacts with other characters. 
Rick doesn’t “stick his neck out for no one,” making him come off, at times, as arrogant, while, at the same time, full of self-confidence (Casablanca).  The thing is, though, he’s sincere, but hides it from people.  Part of it is that he’s cynical.  The reason he has these trust issues is because of his former flame, Ilsa Lund, abandoning him in Paris prior to the present story timeframe.  When both Rick and Ilsa see one another for the first time since Paris, there’s this overflow of nervous emotion within each character, presenting the notion of “regret and the memory of a love that was real” (Ebert).  In the flashback timeline, the love shared between Rick and Ilsa is romantic as if they are destined soul mates.  We don’t see this sort of love and affection with Ilsa and her husband, Victor Laszlo, because when Victor shows his affection, telling Ilsa either how much he cares or loves her, she never reacts with much enthusiasm.  It's almost as if he's trying too hard to kindle something that is not there as it is for her with Rick.  This love triangle between Isla, Rick, and Victor resembles a film-noir. 
Add on the fact that Ilsa shares similar characteristics to a femme fatale, although not to the full extreme of one such character.  For the most part, loneliness fuels Ilsa’s into a temporary affair with Rick.  Her actions make her seem manipulative and self-centered because she only cared about her feelings than Rick’s.  It’s almost as if their love was fabricated just for Ilsa’s own sake to fill the void left by Victor who's away in a concentration camp.  When the Ilsa and Rick meet up again, Ilsa tells Rick that he’s not the same man as he was in Paris.  He has a reason not to be that same man, considering that he is/was hurt by Ilsa abandoning him.  By the latter half of the film, it seems like Rick is moving toward the so-called “downfall” that every character within a film-noir becomes victim to because he will do anything to get Ilsa back.  Consequently, it never pans out that way.  Rick seems as though he has set up Victor’s arrest in order to run off with Ilsa, but, in reality, he wants to do what is right and retain his morals.  He feels Victor and Ilsa should be together.  He can’t interfere or act on his own selfish desires and instincts.  His actions of sacrifice reflect the soldiers of World War II in that they sacrifice for the well being of others, even if they truly find it hard to.  The raindrops dampening the letter attempts to symbolize the tears Ilsa sheds and the tears Rick fights back.
In terms of film technique, with the exception of the lighting, the film’s photography is pretty basic.  Most angles consist of long shots, medium shots, two-shots, three-shots, over-the-shoulder shots, and close-ups.  Moreover, there is a stable usage of the dolly shots, pulling either in or out on a particular character(s).  More so than any other film technique, however, lighting sets the mood in Casablanca.  For example, at “Rick’s Café Casablanca,” the neon lights above the entrance door provide the feel that the café is an outcast of nostalgic hope placed in a world full of conflict.  The neon also brings forth aspects of film-noir.  The majority of the scenes within the café’s nightlife are high key.  Even the halo effect above the piano man, Sam, represents an angelic joy brought along by the uplifting music.  The people of Casablanca are comforted by it.  This halo effect is also seen in close-ups of Ilsa when she is first introduced at the café, almost like a subtle, dream-like, glow.  Most of the time, there’s a mixture of high contrast and low key lighting to illustrated a darkened undertone, especially when the café is disserted of people.  When Rick is seen drinking by himself in the dark, the lighting creates the illusion that Rick is depressed.  At the same time, though, the dark enables him to reflect.  The darkness is sign of loneliness as well as abandonment bottled up within Rick.  More of this low key lighting is used at the very end on the airport, the tones are very gray and the overhanging clouds reflect the dim lights of the runway.  The light sets the mood, showing that as the plane carrying Ilsa disappears so does a part of Rick.  Overall, Casablanca balances itself out with both formalism and realism, but leaning toward realism because it avoids using any type of gimmicks, such as slow motion. It's also very basic with its use of camera angles.

Works Cited

Casablanca.  Dir.  Michael Curtiz.  Perf.  Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman, and Paul Henreid. 
Warner Brothers, 1942.  Film.
Ebert, Roger.  “Casablanca.”  Rogerebert.com.  Chicago Sun Times, 15 Sept. 1996.  Web.  12
June 2013.

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