Casablanca Movie Analysis

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Casablanca, set in French Morocco in December 1941, is a story about trying to escape your past, the power of luck and the difficulties of neutrality during a time of war. The story centers around Rick Blaine and his cafe, Rick's Cafe American, where refugees come looking for transit papers out of Casablanca to Portugal to escape the Nazis. It also centers around a set of transit papers that Rick has and everyone wants. When a Czech nationalist and his wife show up looking for the papers, it sends Rick into a bender as he was once lovers with the wife back in Paris and seeing her again does not help. The biggest foreshadowing moment is when the transit papers come into Ricks possession. The existence of the papers and who has them play into…show more content…
When first introduced to him we see that he is a jaded cafe owner. He proclaims freedom from all bonds, personal or political. He proclaims this by broadcasting to everyone who can hear that "I stick my neck out for nobody" He is trying to escape his past and feels that if he stays to himself it will work out. What we come to find out is that he is suffering from a broken heart. What he does not know is that the transit papers he comes into position of are about to change him. Enter Elsa Lund and her husband Victor Lazlo. Rick and Elsa have a past, as they where lovers in Paris when the Nazis marched in. In flashback scenes, we see a Rick, lighter and happier, with Elsa around Paris. They were suppose to meet at the train station to escape but Elsa does not show. Rick thinks that she stood him up. This when aloof and cynical. What Rick didn't know at that time but comes to find out later is that Elsa is married to Victor and when they were together in Pairs, Elsa thought Victor was dead. The night she and Rick were to meet was when she found out that Victor was still alive. Rick is torn be this revelation. He could turn Victor into the Nazis and run off with Elsa or he could give the papers to Victor and Elsa so they can escape. It is only after Elsa tells Rick that she still loves him, that he decides to give the papers to Elsa and

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