Casa-WW2

At the start of this week’s classes, we I felt we were once again brought into our worlds dark and gloomy past. But one of the most important part of history, is the study of it. Although much time has passed since the Holocaust, and the end of WW2, the images that were captured in 38mm film, and the moving pictures have been preserved.

Even though I had seen many of these images before, I was not, and nor will I ever be okay with looking at them. But they are images that should not be censored, and I believe anyone occupying this earth, no matter their ethnicity, or religious belief should bear witness to they horrid events that occurred during World War 2.

There have been many films based on battles in WW2, and the war in its entirety. However, the clip of a film we were shown was called “Thin Red Line”. It was based on the battle over the Pacific, and the “Island hoping”, that the U.S. had to do in order to fight Japan. This film from what I researched has many underlying tones. The tone that comes across the loudest is the subtle existence of the opinion that fighting the war in the pacific against the Japanese was very confusing and regarded by some as an interference with nature on these islands that have rarely been set foot on by Americans.

We delved into the film era of Film Noir or dark film. I learned that this category of film often coincides with a story of a crime and a not-so fairy-tale ending. The French coined the term dark film because of the obvious darker moods first observed in this era. I found it quite interesting to learn about different films, and different film experts’ view on exactly what they considered to be a Noir film.

When we arrived on our screening day featuring Casablanca, Emma and some of my other peers had me eager to watch it; as their reactions to the news that we would be viewing it shown through on Monday.

I really enjoyed the story this film told as a whole, but there were also some technical aspects that I was very much impressed with. Whatever special effects that brought the globe to life during the intro of the movie, really helped me picture the journey to an exotic locale to which we were embarking. Another scene that really grabbed me was the flash back that Rick and Ilsa were featured in. I caught a deeper meaning of Rick and Ilsa’s romantic past during this revealing flash-back, and it helped to put their story into perspective along with make me realize why they were acting they way they were to each other.

The note that Sam gave Rick contained words that might as well have broke my heart along with Ricks’. The circumstances of Ilsa not showing up, and Ricks’ ever lasting faith that she would be there were absolutely shattered when he read that note. The rain somehow transformed into tears streaming down that note and caused the ink to run. While Rick threw away the note in discontent, he could not throw away the sadness that he would carry throughout the duration of the film.

My favorite quote of the entire film is “Round up the usual suspects.” Its use earlier in the movie brings out a sort of uneasy feeling as there has just been a murder of unknown proportions. But its use at the end, was the comic relief, and the reassurance that Rick would not get into trouble for killing the German officer.