Each holiday, I try to treat myself to a classic movie from the past that I have not seen for a long time. I chose to watch Casablanca from an order of the 70th Anniversary edition that I just had not taken time to watch. Having a daughter in college minoring in History and taking French prompted me to focus on this extraordinary movie that triangulates, greed, love, patriotism, history and culture within the framework of a brilliant script and extraordinary acting within a World War II setting and historical correlation.
The opportunity to consider the meaning of Casablanca at this age of my life caused me to reexamine the characters beyond the memorable lines in the movie toward the thematic conclusion of transcending selfishness over a profound purpose for humanity. If I had written this review of the movie as a student, then I would have been trying to explain the mood, setting, character, effect, timing and other required features of a movie critique. However, as a father of a daughter and educator, my lens are colored by time and hopes that human good will prevail for the human race through STEAM education (Science-Technology-Engineering-Arts-Math). At this time, I am writing this review for my daughter because I want her and those of her emerging generation and educators of the next generation to try and see the acting in Casablanca as a platform to understand the measure of human beings trying to live through the conditions that can be metaphorically displayed in all human relationships and organizations that cause us to live through the woes of physical, psychological or intellectual warfare. From an educational perspective, I posit that Casablanca exudes the need to correlate the movie's great acting, content, context and time in history with the idea of honor and real patriotism. For me, the role Humphrey Bogart profoundly portrayed in Casablanca demonstrated, particularly in the final scene at the airport runway (I believe there is value in starting the movie at the end and then watching the movie from its beginning with the essential question: Why did he do that?), the moment when all men and women must choose the greater good over the selfish desires of the heart.
I believe that Humphrey Bogart, as some professional critics and movie junkies might suggest, was an actor's-ACTOR! However, I believe that Rick, the character in Casablanca portrayed by the legendary Mr. Bogart, gives us a chance to witness honor, valor, virtue and a deeper moral consciousness shielded by the pain of perceived or profound betrayal, than we often find in our contemporary era of "get mind" or "destroy others to advance my personal or political or social cause!"
I ask my daughter and youth to watch Casablanca through the lens of the significant points made about Rick and the choices he made at the end, according to the script writer's interweaving in the lines espoused about him from his dossier, described by the characters portrayed by the German Officer and French police officer where they referenced his past to include his actions in 1935 ( i.e. research the history of how "Italy began its World War II offensive when Benito Mussolini ordered his troops into Abyssinia in October 1935," cited from http://history.howstuffworks.com/world-war-ii/buildup-to-world-war-25.htm), 1936 (i.e The Civil War in Spain) political and human rights efforts.
The classic lines in the movie, namely "here's looking at you kid," can be a metaphor for all of us who struggle with making the decision to give up our desires for the notion of the greater good for our youth to believe that we stand for something greater than ourselves (they are looking at us!). Sometimes, we give into the needs of those who are knowingly using our heart to advance their cause and can use our love, loyalty, core values or response to a person to seek our aid, support, skills or assets at our personal expense or beliefs. At this stage and age of life, viewing Casablanca evokes the centrifugal feature of head with heart or head reshaping or refining the essence of what causes the heart to beat. The French police Captain suspected that Rick was a sentimentalist under the neutral trappings of the salon-night club entrepreneur.
For educators, each time the nature of our work causes us to believe that we need to accept mistreatment as professionals to advance educational opportunity, we can truly look at the products of our educational efforts and really say: "take these lessons and use them to advance civilization." From the educational lens of this review of Casablanca revisited, I believe that Bogart's character learned a lesson and taught us a lesson in the movie as the character, Rick, sent the passion from his life away in the role of the woman he loved (Ingrid Bergman's character) who had stampeded over his heart with the man that, seemingly held her head through purpose, over her heart safely toward freedom. Hence, for educators, especially those teachers of children, Bogart's classic line is a metaphor for our work each day we teach: "Here's looking at you kid!" I suggest the metaphorical lesson of the movie's conclusion and its central characters' desires versus their perceived values during World War II (i.e. note the character and values displayed in the role portrayed Claude Rains throughout the movie and his closing lines to Bogart at the very end of the the movie) teaches us the perplexing value of giving up the carnal desires of the heart for a greater purpose. Somehow, I believe that the human race is still trying to struggle with the notion of truth through the lens of true purpose versus true love of selfish ambition, "as time goes by," even as we live 72 years later!
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Black & White but was advertised as in Color
Black & White but was advertised as in Color Genre Action, Adventure, Drama, Romance, War Format Widescreen, DVD, Color, Full Screen
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