Review of Paths of Glory (1957) by Ryan H — 24 May 2012

Known to many as one of the best war films ever made. Kubrick was pretty far ahead of his time with the way he chose to shoot Paths of Glory. Many of the long shots with timed explosions must have killed everyone on set, seeing as he was a perfectionist.

The last dinner shot had 60 takes. When Kubrick went to Kirk Douglas with the script Douglas said it must be done, but they weren't going to make a dime off it. Well, it did bomb at the box office, but it was no doubt one of the most compelling war films ever made.

Colonel Dax has been ordered to lead his men to take over Anthill, and more than half of them will probably die. Dax isn't too happy with this, but he has no other choice. What he doesn't realize is this mission is a full out suicide.

There's no way they can take over Anthill. General Mireau has been offered a promotion if he fulfills this request and he can't turn down the offer. Paths of Glory in no way tries to be anything but an anti-war film.

It shows that in war the higher-ups don't care about individual people. They see them as just a number. Their best interests are never looked out for. Just look at what happens here. When they are being killing left and right the men retreat, seeing that there is absolutely nothing they can do but die.

One trench never moves because as soon as their Major steps out he gets shot. So what's to happen? Well when Mireau sees the trench filled with soldiers he orders the artillery to fire at him. The order never goes through because the receiver refuses to fulfill the order without a written request.

He calls these men cowards. When the battle is over he orders that 100 of these cowards be killed. Dax doesn't understand. They can't be court-martialed because they realized they were only walking forward to be killed.

Generals Mireau and Broulard disagree. They retreated without being told to retreat and they must be punished. Mireau decides after arguing that he's willing to go down to killing 3 men, one from each company.

Again, they are just seen as numbers. This isn't good to Dax. The rest of the film follows these three men that have been chosen to be killed and Dax fighting for their lives. It's probably the most connected I've ever been to characters in a film by Stanley Kubrick.

If he didn't draw the connection, the point would have been lost. I especially love the last scene where he has the German girl in front of the soldiers who holler at her like the horny wolf from the Looney Tunes cartoons.

The man who brings her out says that she can't do much but maybe she's good at sex. Then he tells them she can sing. The girl is in tears. She's been captured and doesn't understand what's being said, or what's going to happen to her.

She hopes she's not about to get raped. When she begins to sing they all shout over her, but they slowly quiet down. Eventually they begin to hum with her song. It doesn't matter what side your on.

People are still people, not numbers or the evil that you've been told. They all have their own personal side. The only other film I've seen that does this so well is The Thin Red Line, but Paths of Glory is the stronger film for being so focused and not wasting a single second.

A full out masterpiece.