Casablanca

Casablanca

1942

Director: Michael Curtiz

Writer Julius J. Epstein, Philip Epstein, and Howard Koch

102 Minutes

When Casablanca started filming, the script wasn’t even finished. The cast and crew didn’t know who Ilsa (Ingrid Bergman) would choose in the end. Would it be Rick Blaine (Humphrey Bogart) or Victor Laszio (Paul Henreid)?

In a great cinematic end, Iisa boards the plane with Victor supported by Rick who helped the couple escape for the greater good of man. Rick, who feelings were repressed to nothing the moment Iisa broke his heart, is put in the middle of his desire to not get involved, a romantic past, and the French resistance against Nazi occupation.

But, the movie comes down to the scene above. Yvonne (Madeleine LeBeau), a French woman and former lover of Rick, has come to the café that night with a German solider. Apparently, she has switched sides to appease her willingness for love (or to make Rick jealous.)

She is turncoat against her country. And she knows it.

Over the course of the night, fellow German soldiers begin to sing the German National Anthem. Rick and Victor are upstairs, discussing the letters of transit and overhear this blatant Nazi patriotism. Victor storms down the stairs and goes straight to the house band.

‘Play La Marseillaise. Play it!” He exclaims.

The band looks to Rick for approval. Rick nods. The band begins to play La Marseillaise, the French National Anthem, and French citizens around the bar begin to sing.

They are loud.

Soon, the entire bar begins to sing. German officers forcefully sing the German Anthem in contrast, though everyone else is singing the French Anthem until they drown out their evil oppressors.

And in the middle of it all is Yvonne. She stands, sings, and cries her national anthem. Her pride pours out. She is a turncoat no longer. She realizes love does not supersede her country's pride.

This scene is the entire war, played out in a tiny bar in Casablanca. It’s Germany vs. France. It’s East vs. West. It’s Victor taking control and standing up against the German Generals. It’s Rick, not wanting to get involved, giving the nod to get involved.

Even Ilsa glimmers at Victor with loving admiration, realizing why she left Rick in Paris and how important the movement is. She's again turned to loving Victor over Rick.

In the end, Victor is the hero. Yvonne screams out for her country, “Viva la France!”

But, the German officers aren’t to be made fools. They intend to shut down Rick’s Café because the customers are “having much too good of time.” They realize if Victor has this much power in a tiny bar in Casablanca, what kind of power will he have on the wartime front?

Rick’s is shut down, but Yvonne is set right.

The scene is about National Pride, which when faced with war, is all you have.

Casablanca is a great film because it deals with doing what’s right for everyone, not simply what’s right for yourself. That kind of integrity is often lost and we need films like Casablanca to remind us of it.

Yet, this story compels us with Ilsa's whispered words, "Play it Sam..." It hurts even now.