Preview

Casablanca Review Movie Essay

Satisfactory Essays
Open Document
Open Document
354 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Casablanca Review Movie Essay
Essay on Casablanca
The movie Casablanca (1942) takes place in the WWII torn town of Casablanca. The movie is based on the fleeing of refugees from war torn France trying to gain passage into America. The movies circles around the struggles of the war in Europe and of the struggle between lovers.

Casablanca was a war waypoint located in Northern Africa where refugees from the war against the Nazis fled to try and gain passage to the America’s. The only problem is that it is a rough place to live and most refugees that came to Casablanca never made it out.

The police in Casablanca were corrupt and often bribed refugees in order for them to get their letters of transit. Only the very rich or the very lucky were able to get out of Casablanca and make it to the Americas to live in peace. This is a very important idea in the movie because it sets the backdrop for all the action and drama that occurs throughout the rest of the movie.

The movie begins with the owner of a popular night club, Rick Blaine, obtaining two valuable letters of transit. These letters are so important because they cannot be questioned by the authorities and they grant passage to the Americas. When a Czech underground leader, Victor Lazlo, arrives in town with Rick’s old love flame the plot gets thick. Now Rick Blaine is torn between the decision not to help Lazlo escape the Germans and steal back his long time love Ilsa or to help Lazlo escape to the Americas and help lead a rebellion against the Nazi’s. This is an example of how the struggles of war and love become very intertwined in the movie.

Casablanca is a great piece of movie history because not only did it do a great deal to show how people were affected by the war, but also because it had a very twisted and unpredictable love triangle that was affected in many ways by the fight for freedom in the Americas and the fight against the Nazi’s in Casablanca and around the

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    These chapters are the core of the book and its most original contribution. Chapter 4 treats Mawlay Isma'il's conscription of black Moroccans. This conscription, which began in the 1670s, was deeply controversial, in part because it often meant the enslavement of an established, non-slave Muslim population from within Morocco, and in part because it destabilized established relationships of clientage and servitude outside the royal circle. El Hamel deftly traces the debate regarding the legality of Mawlay Isma'il's actions, which brought the sultan into conflict with many of the country's leading religious scholars and in some cases ended with black non-enslaved populations escaping…

    • 444 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Filmed and released in 1942 Casablanca, starring Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman, is a romantic drama set during World War II. The movie focuses on a man (Rick Blaine) torn between love and virtue and it is throughout the movie that he struggles to choose between his love for a woman (Ilsa Lund) and helping her and her Czech Resistance leader husband (Victor Lazlo) escape from the Vichy-controlled Moroccan city of Casablanca. Throughout the movie it becomes clear that Casablanca is a love story. But is there more behind the main stream love that we as the audience only see? In the final scene it become evident that not only is the story of Casablanca a love story; it is also political propaganda in disguise.…

    • 1961 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    The city was seen by many Europeans as a gateway to America. As a result, Morocco was filled with refugees trying to escape Nazi oppression and criminals who preyed on them. Here, the refugees can purchase the counterfeit documents necessary to make the trip to America. In the movie, there is tension in the air as both French and German officers are forced to coexist. The movie begins with an explosive scene of Nazi officials arresting suspicious characters with anxious and fearful people looking on. This is one of the many memorable scenes of the…

    • 617 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    But the others wait in Casablanca... and wait... and wait... and wait.” (Wallis & Curtiz, 1942) In this mass departure of souls fleeing the Nazis, Ilsa and Laszlo must escape to America were Laszlo can continue his anti-Nazi opposition. In order to make it to America they must persuade Rick that his moral obligation is to aid them, for the consequence of not helping them would badly cripple the Nazi resistance movement.…

    • 1183 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Outsiders, directed by Francis Ford Coppola was released in 1983. Ponyboy Curtis (C. Thomas Howell) is a greaser whose parents were killed in a car accident. He and his friends: Johnny (Ralph Macchio), Dally (Matt Dillon), Two-Bit (Emilio Estevez), and Steve (Tom Cruise), and brothers, Darry (Patrick Swayze) and Soda (Rob Lowe), are always getting in fights with a gang called the Socs. One night, best friend Johnny, are attacked by Socs. The Socs almost drown Ponyboy, and Johnny, defending Ponyboy, stabs Bob (a Soc). Pony, and Johnny find a church to hide out in. A bunch of little kids are trapped inside the church which caught on fire, and Pony, Johnny, and Dally save them. Ponyboy gets out ok, Dally burns his arm, but a huge piece of wood falls on Johnny, breaking his back, and burning him badly. At the end, two of the greasers end up losing their life and both gangs still fight and hate each other. I think that The Outsiders was decent, at best. Please spare yourself save the hour and…

    • 1053 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Patriotism In Casablanca

    • 1032 Words
    • 5 Pages

    I never fully understood her motivations as she maintained a detached and distant relationship with all of the other characters. I was left with the feeling that I never got to know who Iisa truly was at the end of the movie as she flew off to America with Victor. What I did learn is that Iisa was very much a patriot. While Iisa is romantically torn between her husband Victor and Rick, she is incredibly loyal to Victor and the political cause he represents. Incredibly, Iisa is somehow able to prioritize her political convictions over her romantic feelings throughout the film. The strength of Iisa's political convictions can not be overstated. Casablanca was filmed during a confusing and chaotic point in history. While England, France, Italy, United States and others were at war with Germany, Morocco was also struggling for its independence from France, which they later received in 1956. In 1942, I imagine that there were few women, like Iisa, who were as politically passionate and loyal as she…

    • 1032 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    This shows how the Jews were treated in America; they were not respected and they were put down in this country. The manager didn’t have to emphasize his positions or belittle Jake position. The movie shows how the struggle with money. Jake was very surprised with the amount of money Mamie saved; he kept borrowing money from her. Also, it shows how Jake struggled with getting his wife, Gitel, to become accustomed to the American lifestyle. Gitel did not want to give up her previous traditions because she came to America. Jake changed his and his son's name to the more American-sounding names. It showed how willing to Americanize easily. Similarity, chapter from a novel, “Did God Make Bedbugs” shows how poor they were. The main character tells us how his mom struggles to keep the house clean, but they have an issue with bed bugs, rats, fleas, and roaches. One night he was woken up by the bed bugs and cried because they were all over him and his mother had to spray kerosene to take them out. This shows how poverty was affecting their lifestyle, by not…

    • 892 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    The movie presents the times of the Great Depression in the American Mid West and West coasts. This was a tough era of…

    • 1617 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    there was a lack of food, money and jobs which would would have been worse to the fact that there was terrible weather all the time not to mention the war, so you could probably understand why they wanted to leave.…

    • 549 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Lastly, that the story goes from New York to instead, Washington DC shows a theme of the early decade to place similar stories of kind in DC area. Because the center of the country and government is there, fears are heightened and strakes raised, leaving the modern audience more into the film.…

    • 692 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In World War II, Europe was a dangerous place. Naturally, people wanted to escape the danger. The most popular place to escape to was America. Far from the battles of the war, still viewed as the land of equality and opportunity. It was nearly impossible to escape to America straight from the countries of Europe, so people would make their way to Morocco and obtain an exit visa. The exit visas let them travel to Lisbon, which was a safe place that they could get to America from. Getting those exit visas wasn't an easy task, and they were nearly priceless to a refugee living in Casablanca at the time..…

    • 1102 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    This case study was about African Immigrants settling in the United States, which are 2 million of the 13% of immigrants in the United States (Watkinson and Hersi, 2014). The case study mainly focused on Eastern African Somali’s who have fled their country due to ongoing war (p. 1). What sets these immigrants apart from South American or Caribbean Immigrants we are more accustomed too is that…

    • 319 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    The 1942 film Casablanca is not at all a feminist film, and neglects to challenge the status quo of the roles of women in cinema, and in society, at the time. All personnel who worked on the movie were male, as were the majority of the characters, save for Ilsa (portrayed by Ingrid Bergman), who does little more than flutter her eyelashes.…

    • 660 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Hotel Rwanda

    • 1084 Words
    • 5 Pages

     The main event portrayed was the hiding of over 1,000 refugees in Hotel des Mille Collines by…

    • 1084 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    The Pianist

    • 601 Words
    • 3 Pages

    The first scene in the film is a montage of grainy black and white scenes of Polish life before the Nazi invasion on Poland. The footage shows a dated world with old English style building and technology, people are shown walking about the town in aged clothing. The grainy dated look of the film also makes the scenes appear gloomy but relaxed at the same time. These images are used to drive the notion that it is set in a time long ago, in a different era. This scene is a critical part in the film as it refines the time and emotion, in which the film is set, so the audience can relate better to the characters and what is happening to them.…

    • 601 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays

Related Topics