Paths of Glory is a 1957 war film about the fallibility of human judgment and questioning the value of a life. Stanley Kubrick directed the film, prompted by his vivid memories of reading the novel written by Humphrey Cobb for school. The film turned out to be a controversial affair, nationally, and on foreign shores. Coupled with the tale's moral itself, this cultural prejudice against the movie's depiction of war proved to be the greatest irony of all.
The plot begins with a proposed addition of another star to a general's rank, and a suicidal plan for attack against the Germans to attempt to please the public. Without regard to practicality, the French General Staff orders an attack on a highly fortified area to boost public morale after a long stalemate with the enemy. Their brash decision puts a weakened and worn-torn regiment at risk with no back up, and no time to prepare. And so begins a recipe for disaster.
Many critics from the time and today esteem Paths of Glory among the most powerful stories of war told in film, driven by its extremely personal viewpoint on the characters and their internal struggles. As a director, Kubrick draws excellent performances from all of his actors, giving the audience insight into the subtle undertones beneath every character's actual lines. This is the key element that gives the movie its humanitarian pull and makes it almost terrifyingly relatable.
The attack is inevitably a failure, as every character besides the delusional generals fueled by arrogance sees coming, and the remaining troops who refuse to leave the trenches for a lost battle are blamed. The entire regiment takes the fall for the loss, and three men are selected at random to punish the entire group of soldiers for their supposed cowardice. Colonel Dax, the man in charge of the regiment, tries to defend his soldiers at any cost against the unfair trial, but has little hope against the united forces against him.
The drama of this warning tale is effectively told through the medium of black and white film, giving the audience just as much emotional depth and drama as a film in full color. Though the art of using black and white is almost obsolete, some artistic directors and photographers still utilize its stark effect to convey the film noir style from the days before color and for its ability to create extreme contrasts. For example, in Paths of Glory, Kubrick utilizes the pitch black and dark gray in the trenches to contrast with the bright white within the overly elaborate and comfortable military headquarters.
What may stand out to today's audiences that may not have captured so much attention at the time is the physical motion and gesticulation the characters perform throughout the film. To create diversity in the way scenes were shot without a large budget, a single camera would often track the pacing of a character during thought or speech about the set. This pacing punctuates the mental process the actor is portraying, and keeps the audience moving with them, although the camera is set from a single point.
Because the movie's sentiments leaned toward the pointlessness and politics of war, it was considered controversial and even taboo in some European countries. It was the first of its kind to depict the antagonist of a war story as those in higher power from one's own side, rather than the advancing enemy forces. Though anti-war movies and cultural viewpoints did not become popular until after the war with Vietnam, the actors and crew involved with the film took an artistic risk and moral standpoint that will be remembered for all cinematic history.
Paths of Glory was highly critically acclaimed, though its box office profits were minimal. The moral behind the story lingers on with relevance as questions of human sacrifice for the sake of political war is more heavily disdained as generations pass. The movie is often used today as a critical thinking and discussion tool for English classes and Film classes alike, sharing the universal challenge of fate and orders for a long time to come. - 40730
The plot begins with a proposed addition of another star to a general's rank, and a suicidal plan for attack against the Germans to attempt to please the public. Without regard to practicality, the French General Staff orders an attack on a highly fortified area to boost public morale after a long stalemate with the enemy. Their brash decision puts a weakened and worn-torn regiment at risk with no back up, and no time to prepare. And so begins a recipe for disaster.
Many critics from the time and today esteem Paths of Glory among the most powerful stories of war told in film, driven by its extremely personal viewpoint on the characters and their internal struggles. As a director, Kubrick draws excellent performances from all of his actors, giving the audience insight into the subtle undertones beneath every character's actual lines. This is the key element that gives the movie its humanitarian pull and makes it almost terrifyingly relatable.
The attack is inevitably a failure, as every character besides the delusional generals fueled by arrogance sees coming, and the remaining troops who refuse to leave the trenches for a lost battle are blamed. The entire regiment takes the fall for the loss, and three men are selected at random to punish the entire group of soldiers for their supposed cowardice. Colonel Dax, the man in charge of the regiment, tries to defend his soldiers at any cost against the unfair trial, but has little hope against the united forces against him.
The drama of this warning tale is effectively told through the medium of black and white film, giving the audience just as much emotional depth and drama as a film in full color. Though the art of using black and white is almost obsolete, some artistic directors and photographers still utilize its stark effect to convey the film noir style from the days before color and for its ability to create extreme contrasts. For example, in Paths of Glory, Kubrick utilizes the pitch black and dark gray in the trenches to contrast with the bright white within the overly elaborate and comfortable military headquarters.
What may stand out to today's audiences that may not have captured so much attention at the time is the physical motion and gesticulation the characters perform throughout the film. To create diversity in the way scenes were shot without a large budget, a single camera would often track the pacing of a character during thought or speech about the set. This pacing punctuates the mental process the actor is portraying, and keeps the audience moving with them, although the camera is set from a single point.
Because the movie's sentiments leaned toward the pointlessness and politics of war, it was considered controversial and even taboo in some European countries. It was the first of its kind to depict the antagonist of a war story as those in higher power from one's own side, rather than the advancing enemy forces. Though anti-war movies and cultural viewpoints did not become popular until after the war with Vietnam, the actors and crew involved with the film took an artistic risk and moral standpoint that will be remembered for all cinematic history.
Paths of Glory was highly critically acclaimed, though its box office profits were minimal. The moral behind the story lingers on with relevance as questions of human sacrifice for the sake of political war is more heavily disdained as generations pass. The movie is often used today as a critical thinking and discussion tool for English classes and Film classes alike, sharing the universal challenge of fate and orders for a long time to come. - 40730
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