PATHS OF GLORY
Added 2022-09-12 20:38:22 +0000 UTCI've been wanting to review this film for a while, and I've been chipping away at a review for it sometime in the fall. What are your opinions on it, and how do you compare it with other Kubrick films?
Comments
It’s been years since I’ve seen the film, but I think I know what you’re talking about. Up until that last scene, the film was rather tough-minded about the course of events. The movie took its tonal cue, I believe, from Kirk Douglas’s Colonel Dax—angry and resentful about what was going on, but never losing his formal civility, his soldier’s decorum. It never turned into an emotionally earnest melodrama. Not even the soldiers on trial (save for one, I think) gave into heavy emotions. They remained bitter and cynical right up to their execution, even shrugging off an apology from one of the executioners, knowing their regret means nothing. So the scene where the French soldiers fall silent as a German girl tearfully sings to them, in light of everything that has transpired, does rather stand out. It’s the one scene that tries hard to tug at your heartstrings. Not even the execution scene did that. So I guess the argument could be made that it is out of step with the rest of the movie, that it’s too soft and sentimental for a film that knows all too well how the world works (it’s no coincidence that it’s Spielberg’s favorite scene in a Kubrick film. It’s something that he himself would have done in one of his movies). There might be something forced and calculating about it (just talking about its concept makes it seem that way), but I also agree with Wolfman that a scene like that is ultimately necessary. After all the bullshit we’ve watched the soldiers have to endure, both from the war and their own superiors, the film needed to end on a high note, however minuscule, that provided a ray of hope for everyone involved. It gave the soldiers reason to persevere in a world of shit and not give in to despair or apathy, and it gave Colonel Dax just a small amount of agency—something he has been denied the whole film—in allowing his soldiers a few more minutes to enjoy the song (that was my favorite part of the scene, seeing him do that). The scene was needed to provide a counterpoint to all the rage and cynicism and injustice that had transpired before. Otherwise the film could be accused of being overly pessimistic. It could be said that a better scene could have been dreamed up, but I would need to see it again to ultimately make up my mind about its effectiveness. You could very well be right. It might belong in another movie. I recommend you watch Jean Renoir’s Grand Illusion for another filmmaker’s perspective on World War I. It would be very interesting to compare and contrast them. Both are anti-war, but they reach that conclusion in intriguingly different ways.
Bennett Oliver
2022-09-16 03:33:16 +0000 UTCWow, really? I rewatched it for the first time in years just last night and the ending hit me like a truck. After such a depressingly hopeless series of events that end with the good guys losing, that finale was exactly the one little spark of optimism that it needed to end on. If Adolphe Menjou couldn't understand the harm he was doing to his own kind, then what hope is there for peace between nations? So the fact that a German girl who speaks no English can have a moment with a dozen English speaking soldiers from different backgrounds just by singing is a small glimmer telling us that there might, MIGHT be a chance for that peace. A beautiful universal message in just a few simple images.
Wolfman Brandon
2022-09-15 06:24:39 +0000 UTCI'm with you. I think it's a fantastic film. I really powerful one, but I wouldn't say it's my favorite. though I do find it far more watchable than A Clockwork Orange as example. I think there's more I take away from the simplicity of emotion in it, rather than more the stylistic boldness taking the forefront there. Though I do find both this and Full Metal Jacket to be such interesting companion pieces. I'm not sure which I find more effective overall. I must admit....the ending of Paths of Glory does not work for me. I've watched it many times and....it feels like the type of sentiment that is meant to seem effortlessly raw and yet...it felt somewhat forced as sentiment, and a little misplaced maybe? I dunno. It felt like it didnt quite embody the emotion that I wanted as a conclusion. I still am not sure exactly why that is. I'll need to think about it.
Deepfocuslens
2022-09-15 05:34:03 +0000 UTCI do agree it's one of his more emotionally resonant films by far.
Deepfocuslens
2022-09-15 05:23:51 +0000 UTCYeah I think you've nailed it. I too don't really have an issue with the accents. There's something that speaks to America for sure in the themes of it naturally.
Deepfocuslens
2022-09-15 05:23:25 +0000 UTCI concur with everyone who responded prior to me! Definitely my favorite from Kubrick. "Path to Glory" is one of (if not) the first film to speak truth to power in a meaningful way. I know this film gets/got criticized for having English accents for French soldiers but to me that decision broadened the scope. The story is about French soldiers but the message applies to every military; every power structure. Kubrick traded emersion for a broader resonance in my opinion. The characters in the film reminded me more of the characters in the working class neighborhood I grew up in rather than just French soldiers. And I dug that aspect of the film. Loved all the contrast. Loved the uncompromising ending. Loved the sound design. Loved the film!
Fillmore Pockets
2022-09-13 23:25:36 +0000 UTCIt's definitely tier 1 Kubrick for me next to 2001, Strangelove, and Barry Lyndon. Out of those 4 its the one that gets the strongest emotional reaction out of me mostly due to what happens to its characters. This isn't to say its my favorite of the 4, that I find impossible to pick (rewatching Strangelove over the weekend and laughing from beginning to end doesnt help). With that said it's easily among my favorite "war" films as well as one of my favorite "courtroom dramas."
Stephen
2022-09-13 01:04:29 +0000 UTCProbably Kubrick’s most straightforwardly moral film. I know that Spielberg likes to refer to it as evidence that Kubrick had a heart, specifically pointing to the final scene with the singer. But Kubrick always had something of a moral viewpoint against powerful institutions, how they come to be at odds with individuals, in all their messiness, who don’t fit into their systemic design. That is in fact one of his most recurring themes. There’s Spartacus of course, with its slave-against-the-empire narrative, and Dr. Strangelove, the pitch-black satirical look at how one crazed general can bypass an entire government’s safeguards against annihilation. 2001 has one of Kubrick’s most memorable, sympathetic creations in HAL 9000, the supercomputer who refuses to die because he cannot live up to his creator’s demands for infallibility. A Clockwork Orange dares to imagine that a government’s forced programming is more inhumane than the destructive actions of a psychopath. And most hauntingly, in Full Metal Jacket, Kubrick gives us the full tragic weight of a man who could not adapt to a brutal training regimen. So Paths of Glory, with its depiction of a French military high command’s monstrous indifference to the humanity of its soldiers, is of a piece with Kubrick’s work. I find it to be a powerful, very effective anti-war film, and with its impassioned anger at the injustice being done to the three scapegoated soldiers, it’s a welcome change of pace from Kubrick’s usual wry, sterile aloofness. Nevertheless, I prefer other films where Kubrick is less direct with his stance on things, couching it instead in impish satire (Dr. Strangelove) or disturbing perversity (A Clockwork Orange). One does not necessarily appreciate Kubrick for wearing his heart on his sleeve. But even then, on the rare times that he did, he was more effective in showing a military’s dehumanization of an individual in charting the mental destruction of Private Pyle in Full Metal Jacket. In that devastating bathroom scene, Kubrick shows us, up close and personal, a casualty of war, a man destroyed by what was imposed upon him. As much as I like Paths of Glory, Pyle and his fate had a deeper impact on me.
Bennett Oliver
2022-09-12 23:31:56 +0000 UTCIt’s right at the top. For years, I had the misconception that Kubrick had some early films, but his career really started with Strangelove. How wrong I was. Paths of Glory blew me away, and combined with Strangelove and Full Metal Jacket, Kubrick has to be considered perhaps our best anti-war filmmaker. Paths is so devastating because he goes beyond “war is hell” to show the entire military leadership as craven and careerist, even to the point of killing innocent men. A lot of movies are anti-war; few indict the military itself like Kubrick. Stanley Kubrick is good. Who knew?
Jim Barnes
2022-09-12 23:15:00 +0000 UTCIt's personally my favorite film directed by Kubrick. It's probably his most accessible acclaimed film, so I could see a fairly large audience enjoying it. When it comes to this film, I'm personally most impressed by the villain. I really despise the generals bc they use their "honorable status" to try and take advantage of their own soldiers, and they know they can get away with it due to how society views them. It makes them better villains bc they're seemingly untouchable. I can elaborate further if i wanted to, but you get the general idea. In short, I'm always willing to rewatch this, as I think it's fantastic. Though, I'd be interested in hearing what you (and others) think of it.
Christopher Cassara
2022-09-12 22:30:08 +0000 UTCAbsolutely spectacular! I'd rank it with 2001, The Killing, and Dr. Strangelove as his best films. However, this might be his most emotionally powerful which I find rare in his films. The scene where Kirk Douglas finally tells off his commanding officer is probably the best piece of acting in his career and that finale with the soldiers singing along with the girl after mocking and teasing her is just...wow! Definitely a timeless masterpiece.
Wolfman Brandon
2022-09-12 21:53:32 +0000 UTC
