Tag Archives: Casablanca

Corrupt Officials Casablanca

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In the scene building up to this clip, Rick and Captain Louis Renault (the local commanding police officer) discuss his next big arrest. Captain Renault is the prototypical corrupt police chief, who picks sides based on the highest bidder and own self-interests. Renault bolsters to Rick about how Major Strasser (the local Nazi leader) will be on hand to witness the arrest. The pair discuss “allegiances”, and the presence of two mysterious exit visas in Casablanca. Renault then tells Rick that there are rumors of a resistance fighter by the name of Victor Laszlo, who’s looking to obtain these exit visas. The clip begins with Renault proclaiming he must obey the orders of the Nazis, followed by Rick calling Renault a “GestapoSpank”. This slur perfectly describes the corrupt police officer, who is willing to undermine and oppress the refugees displaced in Casablanca at the time. Renault defends his position by saying that in Casablanca he is the master of his own fate.

This ties into the themes of refugees and transit. Throughout history, people in authoritative positions of power have been exploiting refugees in transit. Rick’s American Cafe, acting as the Refugee camp of today’s standard. Where just like today people prey upon the misplaced, desperate traveler. Abruptly one of Renault’s officers interrupts the two men, stating that Major Strasser has arrived. Renault’s demeanor clearly changes as he jumps to attention. The Clip closes with the Captain ensuring to the waiter that Major Strasser must receive the best possible seating. This clip portrays an all to familiar scene of an official in a “refugee zone” abusing their power and influence.

Perhaps Tomorrow

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I find this clip to be very relatable to the migration crisis around the year 2015 in Germany. I had just happened to be studying abroad during this time and had to register as a temporary “citizen” so I saw firsthand the waiting times for people in Germany. This scene truly depicts the variety of ages, backgrounds, and different ethnicities(here a majority white refugees and in Germany a majority Middle Eastern refugees). The older generations waiting to escape the war and destruction with a tired and indifferent facial expression, simply trying to get by. On the other hand, the younger generations were filled with hope and eagerness to explore a new life in a new country. As the young woman says in the clip “Perhaps tomorrow we’ll be on the plane.” Unfortunately for many people who fled to Germany, they were stuck in such a massive wave of people that it just took too long so they had to create tent/slum-like areas to live in while they wait. This could be related to the cramped conditions you can see the people waiting in. The plane flying in the sky could be equated to the freedom that escape from the terrible conditions would bring. With all of this taken into consideration, I have found many parallels with the German immigration crisis.

Place, Space and Time , in Transit

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28.03 – 29.03

This scene takes place in the line for visas and transits. Even though Georg repaired Driss’ old radio in the previous scene, the lobby has a TV screen with changing photos of ships from different eras of time cementing that not only are we in transit geographically, but also in space and time. Narrated similarly to Casablanca, another in-transit classic, we learn that this lobby is the place where people tell their stories. People tell stories of their near-death experiences to feel more alive. When Max leaves the hungry conductor to talk to the familiar dog-lady, she tells the story of the self-seeking Americans whose dogs she is caring for. “I hate them and their mutts,” she says to Georg. I believe making the dogs American was a conscious decision that references America’s lack of assistance during World War II. Maybe “mutts” refers to the mixing and assimilating cultures in America. The fact that these people left their dogs with their architect solidifies their tactless nature that is representative of the actual American government. The same government that’s refugee and immigration structures made it virtually impossible for Anne Franks’s family to come here. In January I learned that the number of refugees that the American Government accepts dropped from 110,000 for the fiscal year of 2017 to 30,000 for 2019 despite the fact that we are in a displacement crisis that has been expedited by US imperialism. 

Zaveri, Mihir. “Anne Frank’s Family Was Thwarted by U.S. Immigration Rules, Research Shows.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 6 July 2018, www.nytimes.com/2018/07/06/us/anne-frank-family-escape-usa.html.

Blizzard, Jeanne Batalova Brittany, and Jeanne Batalova. “Refugees and Asylees in the United States.” Migrationpolicy.org, Migration Policy Institute, 2 July 2019, www.migrationpolicy.org/article/refugees-and-asylees-united-states.

Length of Liminality – Casablanca

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During this scene in the film Casablanca we see many refugees being detained and brought to the House of Justice in Casa Blanca. In the context of the film, this scene shows the uncertainty and risk of trying to escape Europe as a refugee during World War II. Within this scene officers are detaining refugees because of invalid or a lack of letters of transit which allow one to travel freely around German-occupied Europe and to neutral Portugal, these letters are especially valuable to those stranded in Casablanca with hopes of making it to Portugal and the New World.

From the opening scene the narrator shows movement by showing the journey many took to flee Nazi-occupied Germany. The usage of the map shows technical elements used by the director in order to employ a sense of hope for a new life as well as risk in finding this new life. The theme of refugees is prominent throughout the whole film as it is about the journey many refugees attempted during World War II. The film follows along with the refugees voyages as they navigate their way through and out of Casablanca. Liminality encircles this film as the refugees in Casablanca have fled their countries of origin and are now awaiting a transition to a new status they will hold when their journey is complete. Casablanca is liminality central in this film.

Over-all I especially found this scene interesting because of the ending. A man who tries to run from the cops but is shot down in front of a sign that reads, “I keep my promises. Even those of others”. In his hand they find a poster I believe to be French propaganda against the Nazi’s as the poster reads, “Free France”. I think this scene foreshadows the loyalty and faithfulness people have to their beliefs and countries.

 

Casablanca: Refuge of the Refugees

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I chose this scene to blog about because I found that it fully encompassed the themes of refugees and movement within the film of Casablanca. With the help of narration, this clip shows the journey many Jewish Europeans had to take in hopes of fleeing Nazi-occupied countries they had previously called home. The background music and tone of the narrator expresses a sense of seriousness and urgency. I found the use of the map very interesting, especially how they showed the very path that many of the refugees fleeing Europe took. The director used these technical film elements to present themes of both risk and hope. I was completely unaware that Northern Africa became a place of transit for Jewish refugees during World War 2 so it was interesting new perspective to gain. The theory of liminality came to mind when watching this film because the refugees have traveled from far and wide, no longer in their country of origin, to Casablanca. Casablanca is portrayed as this waiting station, a purgatory if you will, in which people are waiting to receive the necessary paperwork to flee to the Americas. The narrator foreshadows this and the actual time in which people ended up waiting there in the clip I chose when he said “The others would wait in Casablanca where they would wait, and wait, and wait….”.

Casablanca

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The chosen scene involves a conversation between Ugarte who holds two letters of transit and Rick Blaine. The idea of Casablanca was a “destination of freedom” as in order to obtain freedom, one would go to Casablanca, Morocco to get transit exit visas. This scene sets up the idea of the risk involved in freedom and being a refugee. Rick goes on to ask how he acquired the two transit tickets, as two German’s where known to have them. It is later found out that Ugarte murdered the two German couriers in order to obtain them. He had planned to take advantage of individuals trying to flee to freedom and charge a high price, that he could then split with Rick, as he had asked Rick to hold onto them and watch the transits for him.

The filming style is also an important component of the scene. It was shot in a close-up, over the shoulder shot. The close up conveys emotion and importance, as it typically includes the actor from mid-chest up. Over the shoulder shot conveys the conversation between two actors, cutting back and forth from one to the other to show the interaction being held.

Welcome to Rick’s

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In this clip from Casablanca, the viewer is introduced to Rick’s Cafe Americain, which is where the majority of the film takes place. The scene begins with a tracking shot that first shows what the cafe is called, and then moves through the door and into the Cafe. By using a tracking shot in this manner, it makes the viewer feel as if they are going into Rick’s themselves and allows them to be in the shoes of all the people that find themselves stuck in Casablanca. It then cuts to a tracking shot moving through Rick’s that lands on Sam in a medium close up as he sings. From this, the viewer can see the vast amount of people who find themselves at Rick’s. After these two tracking shots, the camera cuts to a man lamenting about never being able to leave Casablanca, then to a two shot of a woman trying to sell her diamonds to another man, and then to another two shot of men speaking who seem frightened by someone talking in a different language. It then cuts to another two shot with two men speaking about buying a ticket out of Casablanca. The camera then follows a waiter in the middle ground, tracking past two men speaking in a different language, and then stopping on the bartender serving a man a drink. The bartender seems almost offended as the customer thanks him by saying “Cheerio.” All of these shots represent the many different types of people who find themselves seeking a better life.

This introduction to Rick’s is vastly important to contextualize the rest of the film. From this clip alone, the viewer understands exactly what Casablanca is: a place of transit that no one can seem to get out of. There is a mix of people from all over the world with the same goal, yet they are still distanced from one another through language and cultural barriers. Showing this disconnect makes moments later in the film have much more of an impact, such as when everyone in Rick’s joins together to sing the French national anthem to spite the Nazis in the bar. Despite all of the refugee’s differences, they are all fleeing from the same regime and can band together against the Nazis. From this short clip, the viewer is able to understand the mindset of those trapped in Casablanca, fully understand the actions that take place for the rest of the film, as well as recognize the vast amount of people who are trapped in this place of transit.

Promise of a New World

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The scene that I chose is the opening scene from Casablanca. In the section of the opening scene that I chose the audience is shown the route in which the refugees take to get to Casablanca. Starting from France and finally ending in Casablanca. Then we learn that the refugees with money and status are able to use this in order to get Visas into Lisbon or the New World, and the clip goes onto to say that the other people just wait and wait in Casablanca. This particular scene gives the audience a perspective into the movement that the refugees take in order to escape the situation in their country. Because through the movement of the lines on the screen, we see that the refugees start in Paris then go to Marseille and then across the Mediterranean Sea into Africa. Meanwhile, there are images of the refugees leaving so that we can fully see the struggle that goes into leaving for a new country. Finally, once they arrive in Casablanca we learn that the ones with more power and money than the others are more likely to be able to leave to Lisbon or the New World before the other people who have to wait and wait in Casablanca. This scene shows the movement and the struggles that the refugees face when escaping to a new country.

Dark vs Light

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For my analysis I will be talking about the lighting aspect of the film. Lighting can play a big part through out a film. It shows us exactly what to look at and helps provoke emotion within that characters, especially within noir films. With noir films, typically the dark represents evil and the light represents good. But it’s not always that black and white and doesn’t always represent bad versus good. In Casablanca the shadows and lights seem to represent the internal struggle of Rick. When they show his past with Ilsa it’s bright with light as if they are both glowing with happiness. But, as the story progresses they both become torn between their love for each other and their responsibility and uncertainty of what to do about the situation. When Ilsa leaves Rick for her husband that she thought was dead, that is when we begin to see Rick enter the shadows that represents his self conflict and sadness. And when she comes back to Ricks night club you can see that she is in the light still while he has a shadow covering him. This just shows how she left him and the relationship in the dark. Even when she and her husband enters the club he’s is brightly lit while Rick not so much. So with the lighting we see sadness versus happiness and feelings of being trapped especially during the war.