Paths of Glory

"If those little sweethearts won't face German bullets they'll face French ones!"

This Stanley Kubrick classic was controversial at the time of its release for showing war in such a cold realistic light, pushing the boundaries by depicting people who were very afraid of being killed or of never seeing their wives again, and having soldiers casually discuss the best ways to die in battle. On top of that, the entire point of the film seems to be to show the fallibility of the military - something that remains a big no-no in most films even today, and ensured the film a somewhat dicey reputation amongst European countries and more right-leaning viewers.

Paths of Glory concerns itself with an isolated incident in WWI where four French soldiers were executed by the French army for being representatives of a wider act of supposed cowardice. This charge of cowardice came about when an entire division of soldiers found themselves unable to move forward to take German-held territory due to heavy enemy fire. It's a war film where the biggest enemy of the common soldier are their own commanding officers... Paths of Glory (with its ironic title) depicts an unreasonable situation and the resultingly absurd court-martial that saw the hypocrisy of the commanding stratum writ large.

Kirk Douglas plays Dax, the colonel and criminal lawyer who throws his career prospects away in order to defend those condemned to die. It's a futile battle, as he is essentially challenging his superiors - men cushioned from the realities of battle in ornate high-ceilinged military offices, hypocrites motivated by their own ambitions to climb the promotional ladder. They're represented by General Mireau (George Macready), an old school glory-hound with a cavalier attitude to the lives of his men, and General Broulard (Adolph Menjou), a charming but powerful man who puts on an air of reason despite his intrinsic role as one of the authoritarian elite. Mireau in particular is quite reprehensible... when his own men are pinned back by German artillery fire during their suicide mission his greed for victory and frustration sees him order them to be fired on by their own troops as motivation to move forward!

As you might expect, it's a very dark film - a less satirical precursor to Kubrick's later war films, Dr Strangelove and Full Metal Jacket, but no less effective. The cinematography and camera work looks a million dollars, there's a great pair of scenes in the film that really make Paths of Glory pop in a big visual way. The first is when Geberal Mireau is striding through endless trenches as the camera pulls back ahead of him, a staccato of military drums matching the spring in his step as he exemplifies military pride and pompous glory. Every now and again he stops to greet soldiers and muster their fighting spirit as bombs rain down overhead. The sequence goes on until he stops at a man who is clearly shellshocked, and the spell breaks as he berates the man for being a coward, "There's no such thing as shellshocked!"

This scene is later mirrored by Kirk Douglas on the eve of battle, as he walks through trenches lined with human fodder, their faces all eagerly peering at him in fear and hope as he prepares to lead the charge amid a cacophony of shelling. It's absolutely frightening, and it shows up the previous sequence as a parody. Through this comparison we see the unarguable reality of war - it's fear and death and the last thing on the minds of these poor men is pride and glory; they leave that for the Generals as they sip tea in their chalet.

Paths of Glory will remain a timeless classic of the war genre for breaking such new ground. War films are often unafraid to explore the ugly reality of war these days, but few are willing to be so thorough in their comdemnation of the commanding elite. As a film made in the 1950s, Paths of Glory isn't quite at the point where actual cowardice in war is an acceptable or explorable position (Colonel Dax's defence of his men hinges on unreasonable orders and dishonourable command decisions rather than the idea that it's okay for soldiers to be too afraid to do their duty). But this film is an important step in the right direction, in terms of deconstructing war it does a brilliant job of exposing the mechanics of command and the hypocrisy and shortcomings of officers motivated by their own self-interest.

DIRECTOR: Stanley Kubrick
WRITER/SOURCE: Screenplay by Stanley Kubrick, Jim Thompson and Calder Willingham. Based on the novel by Humphrey Cobb, which was in turn based on real events.
KEY ACTORS: Kirk Douglas, Adolph Menjou, George Macready, Ralph Meeker, Timothy Carey, Wayne Morris, Richard Anderson, Joe Turkel

RELATED TEXTS:
- The novel Paths of Glory by Humphrey Cobb.
- For other french-focused WW1 films, see A Very Long Engagement and Grand Illusion.
- Other films about military miscarriages of justice during war include Breaker Morant, The Execution of Private Slovik, King and Country and The Life of Emile Zola.
- The psychology and tragedy of WW1's trench warfare is also examined in the films Hedd Wyn, Journey's End and Beneath Hill 60.
- See also the British sitcom Blackadder Goes Forth, which makes some references to Paths of Glory.
- As mentioned in the review, Stanley Kubrick made two further films about war - Dr Strangelove and Full Metal Jacket.

AWARDS
BAFTAs - nominated Best Film.