Stoic Film: Casablanca

I have too many great films I consider Stoic favorites, though you will never get me to make a list in any particular order. Lawrence of Arabia always has a place in my heart, and most anything by Frank Capra, from Meet John Doe to It's a Wonderful Life, will always move my soul. In modern times, Scent of a Woman, The Green Mile, or Mystic River will knock me on my rear. Yet I return to Casablanca time and time again.

People will sometimes describe Casablanca as the triumph of virtue over love, based on a line in the film by Captain Renault. That is, I believe, misguided. That line is still about the old Rick. It is all about the triumph of love and virtue over thoughtless passion.

Of course Rick loves Ilsa with his whole being, and losing her has turned him into a depressed wreck. What he learns is not that he does not love her, but that this love means doing what is right for her and for Victor, and for all of the rest of the world. It's about the triumph of love and virtue, and true friendship, over selfishness.

I walk away from the film, every time, recognizing that love is virtue, and virtue is love. If I could be just one tiny bit as good a man as Rick at the end of it all, I could die perfectly content.

Rick: If that plane leaves the ground and you're not with him, you'll regret it. Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but soon and for the rest of your life.

 

Ilsa: But what about us?

 

Rick: We'll always have Paris. We didn't have it before...we'd...we'd lost it until you came to Casablanca. We got it back last night.

 

Ilsa: When I said I would never leave you...

 

Rick: And you never will. But I've got a job to do too. Where I'm going, you can't follow. What I've got to do, you can't be any part of, Ilsa. I'm no good at being noble, but it doesn't take much to see that the problems of three little people don't amount to a hill of beans in this crazy world. Someday you'll understand that. Here's looking at you, kid.

Written in 7/2012

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7vThuwa5RZU&index=2&list=PLk_E8G8lky3rvshuT-nlJ8Tu8fRI7qkEt