Review of Paths of Glory (1957) by Jack S — 19 Sep 2010

Even though I'm a Kubrick fan, I have to admit I'd never heard of this one. It took the fact that David Simon (The Wire, etc.) was introducing a repertory screening for me to check it out. (Simon wrote the foreword for a new edition of the book it's based on.

) I was a little leery about a World War I flick but the themes are timeless and depressing. Power corrupts. People will lie, pass the buck, turn their backs on colleagues, just to stay in power or possibly advance.

Here it's a war setting, so we also see the absurdity of war, but really the lessons could be learned from any field (including yours). Kubrick's style has a certain aloofness--albeit suffused with humanity--that makes this half-century-plus film seem ultra-modern.

Kirk Douglas gives a tremendous performance as an idealistic colonel with rage boiling under his surface. The last scene is powerful--you think it might go one way, and then it goes another, and before I knew it a tear was rolling down my cheek.

This is lean filmmaking and just about perfect.