Paths of Glory (1957, 87 min)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0050825/
This is the first of what's going to be about five war films I'll be watching for class this semester. Out of a big list of stuff for World War I, I chose Paths of Glory due to it being by Kubrick. I'd seen all the big name stuff by him so I was actually anxious to check this one out.
Paths of Glory follows some French soldiers in 1916. The film is headlined by Kirk Douglas as Col. Dax. The head honchos for the French are Generals Broulard (Adolphe Menjou) and Mireau (George Macready). After a failed attack, these generals wrongfully place the blame on three soldiers and accuse them of cowardice: Ralph Meeker (Cpl. Philippe Paris), Pvt. Pierre Arnaud (Joe Turkel), and Pvt. Maurice Ferol (Timothy Carey).
The great thing about this group is the large cast of full characters. Just about everyone here seems like an actual human and not some flat stereotyped representation. Even the generals are shown as compassionate a few times to make them seem more realistic. This was the best aspect of the film in my opinion. Solid performances by Douglas, Ferol, Menjou, and Macready only add to this. Trying to single one out as better than the others here is wrong since all of them did so good.
The ending is also another great aspect of the film. Having the lone German shown in the entire film be the one to teach the French soldiers and Col. Dax in particular more about human life than anything is a great ironic touch. This just coming after the violent explosion of Col. Dax towards General Broulard further makes this dichotomy more emphatic. And this scene came after the chilling execution of the three men. A wonderful collection of scenes. The only scene I really felt was lacking was the trial scene which I was hoping would be a bit more than it was.
Overall, I gave this film an 8/10. It's truly remarkable that such a young filmmaker could create such a timeless movie. It's managed to hold up all these years later. With superb pacing I never really got bored throughout the whole film. I love it when a assignment for a class turns out to be as great as this one was.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment