The battlefield in the eyes of God, 9 points

Carmella 2022-03-23 09:01:24

While the film doesn't visually compare to Kushin's best films, the long trench shots and famous execution scene at the beginning of the film are still enough to go down in film history.

The theme of this film is easy to understand and can be summed up in one sentence: Patriotism is when the literate says to the illiterate, now you can die for the country. In this film, Kubrick delivers the most powerful satire of hypocritical patriotism, fanatical nationalism, and a supposed collective sense of honor. Of course, if this film is limited to this, it can only be regarded as a good film of the era that lacks breakthroughs (after all, "All Quiet on the Western Front" has already brought similar topics to the top), but what I didn't expect is that Kubrick Even the victims were not spared. After sneering enough of the above, he exposed the vulgar and stinky side of the soldiers who were victims to the audience. This movie has an obvious library style: like a god, he stands on a high place and looks down on the world. All the goodness and ugliness cannot escape his judgment. God knows everything about mortals, but God does not have a little bit of mortals. care

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Extended Reading
  • Jeffery 2021-10-22 14:41:47

    Personal best. At the end of the film, the soldiers whistled and booed at a German girl who had been caught. I think Kubrick is really deep, and the darkness of human nature has been dug deep. But the girl sang a German song, and the French soldiers gradually became quiet and gradually hummed with her. I realized that this is truly profound, and Kubrick has retained the last glorious and dignity of being a human being.

  • Sydnie 2022-03-25 09:01:06

    Kubrick's war films are not as simple as war. His works always use absurd methods to explore human nature on the surface of war. This is the case with the full metal shell, and this film is also the same. It was meticulous, especially that officer, who was more than domineering, he was simply not human. The group of soldiers tried their best, but he executed them for an unwarranted crime. 5 stars

Paths of Glory quotes

  • [first lines]

    Narrator of opening sequence: War began between Germany and France on August 3rd 1914. Five weeks later the German army had smashed its way to within eighteen miles of Paris. There the battered French miraculously rallied their forces at the Marne River and in a series of unexpected counterattacks drove the Germans back. The front was stabilized then shortly afterwards developed into a continuous line of heavily fortified trenches zigzagging their way five hundred miles from the English Channel to the Swiss frontier. By 1916, after two grisly years of trench warfare, the battle lines had changed very little. Successful attacks were measured in hundreds of yards, and paid for in lives, by hundreds of thousands.

  • [last lines]

    [Col. Dax listens to his regiment humming in the tavern]

    Sgt. Boulanger: Sir?

    Colonel Dax: Yes, sir.

    Sgt. Boulanger: We have orders to move back to the front immediately.

    Colonel Dax: Well give the men a few minutes more, Sergeant.

    Sgt. Boulanger: Yes, sir.