Review of Paths of Glory (1957) by Aaron A — 22 Mar 2012

"Now you got the edge on him.".

Synopsis: Kirk Douglas stars as Col. Dax, the commander of a weary regiment of French army soldiers stationed along the western front during World War I. When French generals order the regiment to carry out what amounts to a suicide mission against heavy German fire, some of the men refuse.

Ever been at work when your supervisor tells you to do something impossible or rage inducing, like sweep the entirety of the parking lot before you leave, and you were told to do so just 15 minutes before your shift was scheduled to end. Or mayhap, you one day realized that your boss is terrible at his job and thought that you could probably do better (i do, all day every day). Well then, Paths of Glory is the picture for you. That's because for all the talk about this as Kubrick's definitive anti-war film, it's not really an anti-war film, hell it's not even about war. What Paths is really about is leadership, and the rift of values between the leaders and those being led.

How else do you explain the power evoked from the "no-man's land charge" scene early in the film. It has relatively little to do with the oft-commented long dolly tracking shot employed; as if all it took was bravado cinematography to make good movies (if so Michael Bay would already be a legend). No, it stems from the camera being focused on Kirk Douglas's character advancing alongside the men he has been chosen to command while to antagonists of the picture are hunkered down, safe in a bunker. The script called for a certain type of filming, and Kubrick thought what we see in the picture today was the best way to go, we'll never know if a different approach works better, we do know that what we got was more than sufficient.

Which is inevitably what one would have to say about it's script. Much like Kubrick's own later work 2001: A Space Odyssey, the picture may never lose it's immediacy thanks to it's script's ability to find a different meaning in each of us, and a quality that provokes thought and admiration, even after we step out and away from the viewing experience.