Paths of Glory (1957)

 Stanley Kubrick's "Paths of Glory"

"Paths of glory leads but to the graves" is one of the verses from Thomas Gray's 1751 poem, "Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard." It was used in the title of Humphrey Cobb's 1935 novel "Paths of Glory," along with Stanley Kubrick's 1957 adaptation of the novel. In Kubrick's film, three soldiers are chosen at random, tried for treason, and finally executed after their unit failed to march forward in a suicide mission. Its success earned Kubrick both global recognition, along with controversy.

The controversy surrounding the film stemmed from both the film's bleak anti-war subject matter and the use of French soldiers. Rather than have a French-speaking cast playing French soldiers, Kubrick instead used American, English-speaking actors. This is why the French banned the film until 1975.

While I do get frustrated with American films representing different nationalities with American, English-speaking actors, I think the French audiences missed the point. They perhaps considered the depiction of their armies to be thrown under the proverbial bus of cowardice, rather than see the universal concepts of war. The film could be about ANY army or ANY nationality. The point of the film is the absurdity of war and the corresponding means of power using its own men as fodder. 

Watching "Paths of Glory" fills you with fury. I felt anger, frustration, and helplessness over the fictional scenarios of anti-logic and baffling anti-humanism present. It's no surprise that such a complex and critical story would draw Kubrick's attention. While this was only Kubrick's fourth film, it was the first that fit neatly into the kind of filmmaking he would come to be known for over the next 4 decades. While "The Killing" is a bleak, fatalist noir that echoes Kubrick's pitch-black humourism, I think "Paths of Glory" truly demonstrate the first incarnation of his signature style.

While watching the film, I couldn't help but appreciate the pictorial imagery Kubrick employs. Kubrick, who comes from a background in photography, knows intimately how to compose an engaging image. With the scenes on the battlefield, Kubrick wanted the images to feel like newsreel, to which he succeeded tremendously. To contrast the grainy, gritty realism of the trenches, the opulence of the high-ranking officer's mansions are shot with wide shots. Every decadent piece of furniture and jewelry and not missed in the framing. This is thematically opposed to the tightness of the framing on the battlefield, which only makes the audience feel trapped and uncomfortable. 

Despite having a bit of controversy about the picture, along with a less-than-ideal box office, "Paths of Glory" has gone on to be one of the greatest war pictures of all time. It also shot Kubrick's reputation into the stratosphere, making him an ideal director for big, epic Hollywood films - like his follow-up: 1960's "Spartacus." "Paths of Glory" demonstrates the absurdity of both war and humanity's ability to dehumanize each other, even with our own 'countrymen.' It's a necessary viewing for anyone interested in either filmmaking or anti-war sentiments.