The boast of heraldry, the pomp of power, And all that beauty, all that wealth e'ergave, Awaits alike the inevitable hour: The paths of glory lead but to the grave.
The title of the film comes from a line from the eighteenth-century English sentimentalist poet Thomas Gray's "Elegy to the Cemetery": "The road of glory will eventually lead to the grave"
A person’s life is full of luck, one cannot choose one’s birth, natural disasters are unavoidable, and accidents are lurking at any time. Whether rich or poor, beautiful or ugly, they cannot escape the influence of luck. "Good luck to you" is often used when blessing others, and that's what General Brollard says to everyone when he's on the front lines, but the disaster in the film is all about the general's mouth. Hypocrisy, greed, selfishness, ignorance, war is like a stick that muddies the dark stagnant water in human nature.
Kubrick's anti-war thought, or his mockery of the absurd human nature in war was revealed in this work, and the later "Full Metal Jacket" was also discussed in a similar way, but this one focused more on the exposure of the dark side of human nature in war, "Quan" is more focused on showing the change of war on human nature, which is also due to the background of the times, the reflection on the world war after World War II, and the spread of global war weariness during the Vietnam War.
There are several interesting scenes in this film that impressed me, especially the process of selecting three people for trial and execution in the second half. First of all, the selection of three people is very interesting. One is the former battle hero who was selected by lottery, the other is the subordinate who seized the boss's handle, and the other is the person who was elected because he was unpopular. They did not intend to. , like a cruel joke of fate, and they were going to die because the general was angry at the failure of the campaign he recruited for his promotion. The death of the three had no meaning and no reason, but in the eyes of the general , the three of them have become tools to boost morale, kill chickens and warn monkeys, and human life is like a mustard.
During the court trial, the three were unfairly tried. There was no indictment and no evidence. The judge did not listen to the defense and convicted only by the words of the prosecution. The existence of the court trial itself became a blasphemy against human justice. It will encounter the iron wall that the vested interests unite, the discourse loses its strength, and the weakness of the individual is crushed by the torrent.
When they are told that they will serve the death penalty, people's beliefs collapse because they are survivors from the battlefield, their heroism allows them to face the enemy, they are not prominent but not cowardly, and the gratuitous sentence is related to the approaching The time of death will only make them express their longing for life in a desperate way: one prays and screams that I want to live, one goes crazy and takes wine as a god without any scruples, one misses family but has nothing to be attached to, and when they serve their sentence, they are sentenced to death. Tied to a stretcher, blindfolded, with his eyes open until the gunshots, the farce finally ends in tragedy.
This farce also shows the hypocrisy of the general. When he solicited tasks for himself, he said that he was unwilling to sacrifice the life of any of his subordinates for the honor of his own life. Later, when he was defeated, he killed at will and ordered artillery to bombard him. He took the defeat as the cowardice of the soldiers, made the three bear the consequences of the defeat, and even denied what he had done, trying to maintain his own hypocritical honor.
As a role in resisting absurdity, Colonel Dax burst out with great power and strong role tension. He took the lead in charging on the battlefield and commanded the soldiers hiding in the trenches to attack. He refuted the content of the lawsuit at the trial and questioned the court. Controversy, heated speeches, he lobbied back and forth, tried his best to save his subordinates, exposed his crimes, his bravery, his justice, his wit, but it did not bring justice, the war was lost, the subordinate was sentenced, and the accusation was made by the superior. As a political bargaining chip, his efforts are used as a bargaining chip, and those that are not are ignored. When a general is dismissed, he becomes a candidate for the next general. The value of human beings is regarded as a tool by the powerful, which is extremely important. The big one sparked his resistance.
The light of humanity in the film when Colonel Dax was the last scene also dimly shines in the tavern. The people in the same camp quickly forgot the tragic execution of the three of them. They were having fun in the bar. The host pulled out a beautiful female prisoner of war. The audience was restless. Only then did I suddenly think of my hometown, chorus and tears flowed down my face.
Why war and what does war bring us? There are no answers in the film. People who see the absurdity and injustice in the film may find the answers to these questions by themselves.
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