5. Script
Ah, the script for
Casablanca. From its Oscar win to its memorable quotes to its brilliant comedy to its tear-jerking romance, there is very little to be found wanting
. The movie has a simple, yet complex plot that must be watched more than once or twice to fully appreciate its depth.
On the surface, you have the love triangle between Rick, Ilsa, and Victor. That much is obvious, but how many female characters are written with the 3-D quality of Ilsa? Yes, movies nowadays have evolved to depict many interesting female characters, but unfortunately many of them are just male roles being played by women (think of characters such as Sarah Connor and her successors in
Terminator movies or Riley in the
Alien movies). Ilsa is not cut from this cloth. She is feminine with feminine motives. She struggles between her love for Rick and the noble desires of her husband. She wavers between her love and her responsibilities. She's even willing to pull a gun on Rick, whom she loves, to help Victor, to whom she is married. Now that's a great movie heroine! Throughout the film, Rick slowly changes from a cynical and somewhat self-absorbed hard-ass to the noblest of heroes. In the beginning, he is heartless enough to let Ugarte be captured and executed. Then comes Ilsa, who drives him deeper into cynicism and drink. His feelings for Ilsa allow him to recover enough to let Annina's husband win at roulette, a bout of generosity that, judging from his employees' reactions, is greatly out of character. With his self-absorption now cured, we begin to see Rick abandon his famous neutrality and take the side of Victor Laszlo against the Nazis as he allows Victor to sing "La Marseillaise" in response to the Germans' song about defending The Fatherland from French invasion. And finally, Rick sacrifices his love and potentially his freedom to help Victor and Ilsa escape to America. In doing so, he kills Major Strasser and influences Louis to give up his life of following "the prevailing wind" from Vichy. This leads us to the relationship between Louis and Rick. The chemistry between the two is obvious with many of the most humorous lines in the movie involving the two of them. The budding "beautiful friendship" between the two is wonderfully delivered through brilliant dialogue. Of course there are also the subplots of Yvonne, Sam, Annina, Major Strasser, and Ferrari. The list can go on and on. But the most enjoyable aspects of the plot for me will always be the growing and evolving relationships between Rick and his supporting cast, with Rick's wall of indifference slowly being revealed as a sham while he works his way "back to the fight".