Thursday, September 11, 2014
Casablanca
It is my honest opinion that the ending to the film Casablanca is the single most important scene for a few reasons. Reason the first: This film was made during a time when the movie romance, the kind of movie with a square jawed, tuxedo-wearing, leading man and a beautiful but slightly icy and mysterious leading lady, was king in Hollywood. Although Casablanca may follow these of the time conventions, the love story aspect of the film is, in a sense, thrown out the window when Rick and Ilsa cannot be together. This turn of events makes this movie much more memorable than the others of its time. Reason the second: It is only in the climax of the film that we truly see Rick's true character. For the entirety of the movie we are trying to figure out what motivates Rick and where his loyalties truly lie. In the end, I feel that Ilsa is his only real motivation, in that he never really makes a move in any direction during the rest of the film, and it is only when she shows up at his door that life is, in a sense, breathed back into him. Reason the third: It is in the finale that everybody finally puts their cards on the table and the truth comes out. We find out that after all of the ups and downs, Renault is one of the few trustworthy people in Casablanca. We also find out that both Rick and Laszlo loved Ilsa enough to let her go safely with the other man to America. Ironically, we are still never technically sure of whether she truly loves either of them, but, this being a movie from the 1940s, I think that we can safely assume that she did.
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You said that the end of this blog is controversial, but I agree. If she would even try going back to Rick once (and she tried twice, even after he was drunk and mean the first time), she shows that she loves Rick. Going back to Laszlo after her time in Paris with Rick shows that she loves Laszlo. I completely agree that she loves both of them.
ReplyDeleteI liked your second point a lot. Up until the end, Rick had been a bit of a mystery. Finally, we see he makes the decision to send off Ilsa and Laszlo. At first, I thought he did so because he did not really love her, but now I am leaning more toward that he did it out of love. He loved her enough to not force her to stay with him, and instead continue with Laszlo to fight for the greater good on a scale larger than just the two of them.
ReplyDeleteI disagree with your final point that Ilsa loves both of them (or at least I think that is what you are trying to say). I say this because if Ilsa really loved Rick then after their moment in Rick's office, Ilsa would've fallen back in love with Rick and stayed. Even after they had there moment Ilsa still decided to go back with Laszlo.
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