Review of Casablanca (1943) by Joe W — 18 Jul 2013

As a child, I fondly remember watching the a Looney Tunes short which was a homage/parody to Casablanca, named Carrotblanca. I didn't think much of it, but it greatly gave me an idea of how iconic Casablanca was and knowing of Humphrey Bogart. Fast-forward to adulthood and now I've finally watched it and seen what the fuss was about.

Did it live up to the hype? I think so, but as I was watching it, I was starting to think I might not really like the movie by the time it ends. When things were getting too sentimental, my cynical side was cringing, but then once the story opened up more, I began to see that the story was addressing themes of love and virtue that we all can relate to as human beings. It's the two things that make a human being human and we as human beings know that those two things may require things of importance of us to be sacrificed and that can be either good or negative. It's a character study of one person's struggle with those two ideals.

What I love about Casablanca is that it is not at all cynical, but at the same time it's not all sunshine and rainbows. What it does have, most importantly, is a lot of heart and it is a film that can remind us all of our humanity in that we're all susceptible to our vulnerabilities to the people we cherish the most and that could potentially destroy us, but Casablanca finds triumph in that and asks each and everyone of us to find triumph in our adversities for the sake of keeping our hearts pure. Any film that asks something like that is a film that is sure to be remembered and to remain in the hearts of not only people looking for entertainment in movies, but also heart. And that is what makes Casablanca a pure classic, in my opinion.