Casablanca (1942)
It is always some nervous anticipation I start to watch these classics considered one of the best movies of all time, because it is hard to expect much less than a masterpiece - and sometimes I don’t think it was anything special. Citizen Cane didn’t do very much for me. Was very happy that Casablanca lived up to “the hype” so to speak.
The first half was a little confusing with all the characters and figuring out the relations, history and motivations. But the whole atmosphere of Ricks café hooked me in. And the dialogue! I can’t recall many other movies with such well written lines.
What made this into a 5 star movie for me was when they starting singing “La Marseillaise”. Somehow that felt like something special, especially the closeups of Yvonne. It was only afterwards I learned that the actress Madeleine Lebeau was a refugee from France. Given that the movie was made in the middle of WW2, those kinds of scenes and performances elevates to something more than just great acting - but becomes almost a historical document from that time. And the whole overall theme of the movie with the cost and consequences of trying to stay neutral, is also impossible to remove from when the movie was made - but the points made are always relevant. Especially today.
Rating: 5