* This is one of my favorite movies, about the awful absurdities of war and the deadly, inexorable illogic that results when scandalous "patriotism" and amoral careerism meet each other. Men who sit in gilded palaces order an impossible attack -- they know it from the beginning -- and then judge the troops who fail to succeed in that attack as cowards. Kirk Douglas is the hero here, but even he agrees to carry out the attack knowing it almost certainly won't succeed, rather than let somebody else take charge of his regiment. Three men are chosen to stand trial for cowardice -- as stand-ins for the entire regiment that failed -- and sentenced to death. The system is so relentless that even those who see the terrible, Kafka-esque qualities of it -- or those who should, like the regimental priest -- go along with it anyway. There are constant exhortations to courage from men who show none to men who have already demonstrated it -- but it is the latter group that suffers.
The movie is based on a true story.
* PATHS OF GLORY was made in 1957, and while it would still be subversive today, it's amazingly so for an era of Cold War-influenced filmmaking of movies like THE CAINE MUTINY and FORT APACHE whose ultimate messages were: "Sure, your leaders may be nuts and misguided, but you owe it to them to support them and carry out their orders anyway." Indeed, Wikipedia tells me the film wasn't shown in Francisco-era Spain until 1986, nor in Switzerland until 1970. In the US, it was banned at all military bases. On that basis alone, this is worth watching.
* PATHS OF GLORY was made in 1957, and while it would still be subversive today, it's amazingly so for an era of Cold War-influenced filmmaking of movies like THE CAINE MUTINY and FORT APACHE whose ultimate messages were: "Sure, your leaders may be nuts and misguided, but you owe it to them to support them and carry out their orders anyway." Indeed, Wikipedia tells me the film wasn't shown in Francisco-era Spain until 1986, nor in Switzerland until 1970. In the US, it was banned at all military bases. On that basis alone, this is worth watching.
* It's also worth watching, not just for its themes, but for the performance by Kirk Douglas, a lion of a star at his absolute peak. Nobody did righteous fury like Douglas. It is something to behold.
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