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.
No comments:
Post a Comment