Casablanca: 1943

Of the films I've watched so far, this is the first one that I had seen before, so my experience with Casablanca was a bit different as this was a rewatching of a film I hadn't seen in years. Casablanca is essentially a love story set in Morocco, an unoccupied French territory in World War II. The film is about Rick (Humphrey Bogart) giving up the woman he loves (Ingrid Bergman) for the cause of the resistance movement in Europe. Their story includes a flashback where you realize just how much these two people do love each other, which makes the ending all the more tragic when Rick lets Elsa get on the plane with another man (I don't think I'm spoiling anything here...this is a classic scene):

Seeing the film again, I better understood the dense story. While yes, it is a romance, there are several other storylines at work in the film, one of the resistance and one of the French authorities dealing with German "visitors." I know the first time I watched Casablanca, I didn't fully understand why it was so necessary for Victor Lazlo to leave Casablanca and get to the United States, but in the watching, I already knew the basic love story, so I could focus more on the other parts of the film and follow the dense dialogue. Like other films, I think Casablanca requires two viewings to be fully appreciated.

What struck me in the film was the use of lighting. The film is black and white, but at times, the lighting seems very soft, in scenes in Rick's bar when he sees Elsa or when the couple is together. At other times, the lighting is harsh, when the Germans are present and conflict arises. The softness and harshness of the lighting switch seamlessly as each scene changes, but the effect is powerful: the audience's emotions change with the lighting. When the light is soft, it's one of those nostalgic or "awww" moments and the audience feels those emotions, and when the light is harsh, the audience feels uncomfortable just as the characters do. The subtle changes in lighting play on our emotions and engage us further with the characters.

With this blog, I may not rewatch all the films I've seen before, but Casablanca is a case where I'm really glad I did.