Casablanca (Michael Curtiz, 1942) - Oh Ricky you're so tragic you blow my mind

[bcarpenter]

The film Casablanca is a story of pain and sacrifice for Rick. While everyone else seems to be stuck in this “purgatory” between the war and America, Rick is choosing to stay there. He has more than enough money and influence to leave Casablanca and while it would seem this would make him more obliged to stay it doesn’t. I think the only reason he is waiting there is because he does not want to go on with his life without his love. She left him hanging in limbo and so he will stay in limbo until he dies in Casablanca, or finds her again so he can go ahead with life. His pain only deepens when he understands she is married, but he realizes that he can break away if he makes the sacrifice for her well being. Then he can finally break free from his “purgatory.”

I think this film has less philosophical aspects to it, and is based more on entertainment and how characters act upon situations rather than situations acting upon characters. Most of the philosophy, to me, would be about love and how it creates the world around you as portrayed in this movie. The love in this movie also makes me wonder if in a way Rick is getting back at Ilsa so he can feel like he was the one who pushed her away and left her wanting so he can feel good about himself. Rick’s future is created by her rejection. It’s why he’s in Casablanca, and likewise for Ilsa. When she is rejected by him she is saved to the United States to live with her husband in his situation.

[JBondurant]

I never really thought about the idea of Rick choosing to be in Casablanca as an allegory for him not being able to get over his love. He has all the power and connections to be able to get the correct visas to leave for America, but in a way he is more stuck in Casablanca than anyone in the film. This is due in part to the fact that he owns a bar there, but what I am referencing is his inability to move on with his life after having been left by Ilsa. This makes perfect sense if we are to think of Casablanca as a type of "purgatory", since most people ended up there more or less involuntarily because of the war. This could be likened to dying and ending up in purgatory (since dying is usually involuntary), with everyone doing as much as they possibly can to get out. Rick is different, however, and this is probably why the story centers around him. He is in this "purgatory" - Casablanca - voluntarily since he chooses not to leave on his own accord when he actually has the opportunity to do so. Not only that, he seems to take pride in living in Casablanca in a way, which adds to his cynicism - arguably his most distinctive trait.

[E Black]

I agree that the film is a telling of Rick’s pain. Ilsa is obviously the only person that can create a display of emotion out of Rick, as he says, “She is not just any woman.” And to live without her—being that she is like no other—would indeed be painful. And even more painful would be living alone after she had abandoned him without explanation. Yes, his life must be one of pain. But you mention that his life is one of sacrifice, and then fail to come back to this rather important aspect of the film. Obviously Rick has all the chances to escape Casablanca, just as the previous posts have explained. He has plenty of money, and, being the owner of the most popular bar in town, his influences must be infinite. So, one must ask why he chooses to stay in such a miserable place. Brian calls this the form of purgatory, or limbo, that he has chosen to reside in, teetering endlessly between life and death until Ilsa returns to take him back. And once she shows up, shouldn’t he then take his possibly last chance to escape this hell on Earth?

The sacrifice you mention briefly is that it isn’t always about himself. It’s alluded to numerously throughout the movie, that some things in this world are greater than “the problems of three little people.” It’s for this same reason that Rick constantly plays for the underdog, and that he lets her leave with Victor on the plane. This act, this immensely selfless act, putting the larger picture of the war, and the liberation of concentration camp victims, etc, above the mere love that exists between two people, means everything. It’s essential to the plot, and essential to the development of this film as a philosophical document (as if it didn’t hold any philosophical grounds—I laugh at you in a rather jokingly manner). May I also point out that symbolically (scary word), Rick is, as he always represented in one form or another in most films/books/etc, Jesus. Think about it.