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Paths of Glory
: Paths of Glory has been one of my favorite films of all time. The first time I saw it, in 1972, was on a big screen, and the battle scenes were intensely griping and life like, even though the super realism of Saving Private Ryan is avoided. The grittiness and the intensity of battle is stomach renching. I had a new sense of what the trenches of WW I must have been like. Add to this a story which infuriates, acting which is totally believable, and finally, a sense of poigniency (sp?) which makes you tearful, and you have one of the best films of all time.
Stanley Kubrick's PATHS OF GLORY is one of the most gripping war movies ever filmed. Its power does nor come from an impressive body count. THE LONGEST DAY and SAVING PRIVATE RYAN have higher counts but what makes this movie so special is the battle that goes on in the courtroom. Kirk Douglas plays Colonel Dax of the French army, a man of bravery and impeccable integrity. When he is given an order to attack, he will obey it since he assumes that the order is a rational one that fits into the larger scheme of winning a battle. His commanding officer, played with sublime officiousness by Adolphe Menjou, orders a suicide attack on a heavily defended German position with predictable results. Dax's men are beaten back with ruinous losses. The general seeks a scapegoat for the defeat since if he has none, then he must shoulder responsibility. He chooses to blame his regiment for cowardice, and randomly chooses three soldiers for a courts-martial. It is Dax's job to defend them. It is during the trial that Kubrick raises some tough questions about the morality of war and the need to obey all orders, regardless of their surface illogic. Despite a solid defense, Dax realizes that the verdict was in even before the trial began, and the three unlucky soldiers are shot by firing squad. As Dax grows to understand the nature of the beast called war, so does the audience. In war, top commanders often regard their armies of men as little more than chess pieces, to be placed here and there on whim. Losses are expected and uncried over. Dax shakes up the entire French High Command by demanding that someone in a high place owes it to the dead to cry over them, even if he is the only one willing to do so. Whatever illusions about fair play in military justice that remain after the guilty verdict is in vanish when he speaks to the commander of the general who ordered the attack in the first place. This general tells Dax that the offending general has been relieved of command. However, he also tells Dax that despite knowing the idiocy of the attacking order and the equal idiocy of demanding the guilty verdict, he still insists that it was more important to safeguard the holiness of obedience to orders than to safeguard the well-being of the men attempting to carry out those orders. It is this closing scene of disillusionment that teaches Dax that though war may be inherently chaotic, human beings must not be so. The events of the war following this war teach us that some lessons humanity will probably never learn.
This is, without a doubt, one of the finest "war" films ever made. Banned in France for years, "Paths of Glory" superbley illustrates the ultimate futility and waste of war. Released more than 40 years ago, this black and white Kubrick masterpiece easyily outshines "war" films such as Platoon and Fourth of July.Kubrick's own "Full Metal Jacket" pales in comparison to this film. From the disease-infested trenches on the western front to the oppulant and outlandinsh headquarters of the French Army High Command, Kubrick gave Kirk Douglas one of his finest acting vehicles and was rewarded with a stunning and gut-wrenching performance. The film's story of corruption and abuse of power is as old as the Bible. But through Douglas, Kubrick was able to put a face on the human toll of such arrogance and misplaced trust. My only complaint of the film is it isn't yet available on widescreen DVD.
One of Stanley Kubrick's earliest films, and one of his finest, "Paths of Glory" stars Kirk Douglas as a French colonel who must defend three soldiers against trumped-up charges of cowardice. Within that simple framework, and with an amazingly short running time (just under 90 minutes), Kubrick and company create a powerful, universal story about the abuse of power, the horrors of war and the indomitability of the human spirit, and its possible redemption.
"Paths" draws a lot of its power from some amazing, naturalistic performances by its supporting cast. Ralph Meeker, Joseph Turkel and the hulking Timothy Carey (one weird-looking guy) portray the accused, three very different men with sharply delineated reactions to their shared predicament. Their final scenes have the feel of a Arthur Miller play, tragic and vital. Wayne Morris, himself a real-life war hero, is exceptional as a cowardly officer. George Macready ably limns a self-righteous general, with support from film legend Adolphe Menjou as his wily superior. And star Kirk Douglas delivers one of his typically impassioned performances; few have ever matched his ability to dynamically combine physicality and intellect with strong idealism.
Some criticize Kubrick for giving into sentimentality during the scene in which French soldiers torment a captured German girl, then hum along with her as she sings, while Douglas' character listens and draws strength. I would argue that this is actually more daring than Kubrick's later detachment. Starting with his brilliant "Dr. Strangelove," and continuing through his final film, "Eyes Wide Shut," Kubrick often kept the viewer separate from the subjects; almost like watching lab experiments in a refrigerator. It's easy to feel superior when you keep everything at arm's length, smugly observing behaviors alien to yourself. It's easy to assign undesirable actions to freaks like Alex, from "A Clockwork Orange," or Jack Torrance in "The Shining" without having to feel uneasy about one's own tendency towards violence, or whatever behavior Kubrick chose to film, criticize, or satirize.
Actually, we are like these soldiers, and frequently, we are the victimizers ourselves, just as vain and self-justifying as Macready's hypocritical general. "Paths," then, can be seen as a challenge to the viewer, and it gains authority from its unwillingness to excuse us for our flaws, even as it embraces these battered men. Okay, so it's overt humanism... but it's heartfelt and honest. And true.
Altogether, this is one of Kubrick's most human films. From the rat-infested trenches and the slaughterhouse floor of No Man's Land (the combat scenes, while fairly brief, remain some of the most visceral ever filmed) to the glacial elegance of the general's chateau, Kubrick takes us down all the paths to glory and the grave.
It's a bold claim, I know, but this has to be one of the best, if not THE best war film ever made. A shattering account of military and class politics during WWI, this film will leave you speechless (and emotionally drained) by the its conclusion. Kubrick is utterly relentless is this brutual examination of the court-martial of 3 innocent men. And this is based on a true story! A truly terrifying film; once you see it, you'll never need to watch another war film again. For what it's worth, your humble reviewer is a combat vet.
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