Love Vs. War In Casablanca

Michael Curtiz adaptation of Murray Burnett and Joan Alison’s play received an Oscar for the best film of 1943. In that time, the film had everything to highlight widely, with renowned actors and notable writers, however none of those involved in its production expected that this could be something out of the ordinary and with such success. Critics have applauded the depth of the characterizations in the movie, the intensity of the direction, the script wit and emotional impact of the work as a whole product. Curtiz used music written by Max Steiner and incorporated the song As time goes by Herman Hupfeld; the entire film was based on this last song. This song was used at serious moments in the film to highlight the tensions and ambiguities that the director wanted to illustrate when some situations appeared, fusing it with La Marsellesa, the French national anthem to denote a contrast between the opposing parties that are taught in the movie. A contrast is seen in the part of the movie when a group of Nazi officers under a Major order start singing “The guard on the Rhine river”, which was considered a patriotic anthem during Germani Nazi. Minutes later, Laszlo asks the local band that interprets La Marseillaise, the French national anthem prior to the occupation of the country. In this situation, we could notice that two feelings in the movie collided. This is intentional in Curtiz’s part, it is his attempt to estrange the audience from the decision on being in Laszlo’s side or Nazi’s side.

In the film, Curtiz uses repeatedly medium shots, keeping the audience in the same level of the actors. Another scenes need close ups in the expressions made by the actors, for example in the love scene when Ilsa is telling Rick that she is still in love with him since Paris and she’s giving him explanations of why she left. Ironically, Rick is still in love with Ilsa but instead of leaving Casablanca with her and be safe for the rest of their lives and leave all behind, he prefers to leave her with Laszlo and give the cards to them so they are safe. I like this contrast in the movie, where he is dying of love for her but realizes that saving her is the right way to show his feelings for her.

As a critic named Richard Raskin wrote, “The film defines the city of Casablanca as "French soil" in an unequivocally positive way, meaning that as such, it is-at least in principle-free from German authority” (Raskin 1). This is not totally true, because they are still fighting about which is the freedom and who are they free from. Gernan military is still fighting against their liberty and freedom.

On the surface, the film is not futuristic at all, it has some sort of antique way of showing images. The clothes and the setting have an antique look, correlating with the movie that is balck and white. Their clothes are elegant, every single character is dressed sophisticated for the occasion and the cars

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