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Title: Paths of Glory
Year: 1957
Director: Stanley Kubrick
Format: Blu-ray
Label: Masters of Cinema
Notes: A simple start in which two generals converse and plot the fate of their many subordinates develops into a very effective anti-war drama. The absurdity of war and the cruelty it imposes on normal people is portrayed as a pitiful and unjust tragedy. The hypocritical generals are grotesque, perhaps too much so, perhaps not. Nationalism and duty do not survive as virtues in this film.
When the troops go over the top to capture the ant hill we are treated to a long tracking shot as the massed men make their inexorable progress towards death or retreat. The realism and energy of this sequence is still effective and must have impressed at the time. The film is beautiful throughout, even the darker sequences in murky trenches.
The pivotal court-marshal scenes are unforgettable and is an early example of the kind of superb set-piece sequences Kubrick later became very well known for. It's enough on its own to make the film worth viewing.
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