Review of Paths of Glory (1957) by Scott S — 01 Aug 2009

Paths of Glory (1957) -- [8.0] -- To say this movie is an expose on the horrors of war is an understatement and an oversimplification. War is just a backdrop, and the indictment is a broader one of man's inhumanity to man.

What makes "Paths of Glory" different from other anti-war films is that the injustice comes not from the enemy, but from within. After French soliders refuse a suicide mission to take a German stronghold, the French army decides to make an example out of three random men, trying them of cowardice and sentencing them to death.

Kirk Douglas is very good as Col. Dax, who passionately defends the men during their court martial. The supporting cast is also very good, including George Macready and Adolphe Menjou as out-of-touch miliatary leaders who control the fates of thousands with frightening nonchalance.

This was Stanley Kubrick's second big-budget film (after "The Killing"), and it's atypical of his filmography in a few ways. It's one of the shortest movies he ever made, and it has a relatively simple, straight-forward narrative that probably makes it more appealing to general audiences than his later work.

You do get Kubrick's refined taste, though, both in shot compositions, camera movement, and in a few moments of poetic license. The ending, which features soldiers humming in unison, that can be interestingly compared and contrasted with the ending of Kubrick's later war film, "Full Metal Jacket".