Casablanca

I'm not a fan of black and white movies, especially films from the 1940's, but I have to admit I was taken aback by the universal themes in Casablanca.  Although a lot has changed from the 40's to now, as in technological advances, style and lingo, a few things have not changed such as the way we as human beings interact with one another and deal with life's issues.  As human beings we handle things like love and virtue differently, but it's all universal as far as the world is concerned. 

In Casablanca, the universal themes that caught my attention were love and virtue.  In the film the character Rick Blaine is torn between love, reigniting old feelings for his ex lover Lisa Lund, and virtue, helping an ex lover and her husband escape from Casablanca.  Love is a complicated thing, and in the film Casablanca, the term "it's complicated" is portrayed in black and white.  Rick and Lisa's love began due to the fact that she thought her husband, Victor Laszlo, was dead.  When she found out her husband was still alive, she left Rick without word of her whereabouts or explanation of leaving.

Choosing to do the right thing is a struggle most humans have had to endure many times in their lives, but when love is involved the decision becomes a little more self motivated than most.  I can see a little bit of myself in Rick Blaine.  Having love then losing it, only to have love come back in another way or form.  It's nice to see that love and virtue over time still speaks the same language at least.  Then again, in black and white, love and virtue has more of a classic appeal about it. 

Gladiator

One cannot help but to get lost in the action and adventure of this film.  It starts out faced paced.  Your heart and adrenaline are racing as your eyes are fixated on the blood and gore of battle scenes and singular combat.  Personally, I got lost in the characters themselves, especially Maximus.  I couldn't help but to want to be just like him, to command and lead an army and to have the respect and admiration.  For about two and a half hours I felt invincible and vulnerable at the same time.  I appreciate movies like this one, especially for its ability to provide an escape from reality for a brief moment in my life.

Gladiator is a great example of a films use of theme and focus by centralizing the central concern of the movie on it's title.  The character Maximus, although humble and honorable, lives life day by day not knowing if it'll be his last.  He lives the gladiator's life as a soldier and general in the Roman army and as a captured slave condemned to gladiator games until he dies.  This focus on character is proven when the Roman Emperor Commudus asks who he is and is given the response, "my name is Gladiator."

I couldn't help but notice that the one thing keeping Maximus alive and full of hope was his family.  This is where the focus on plot unfolds.  When that was taken away, he really had nothing to live for, but to finish one task.  That task was to give the power back to the Roman people, which was given to him upon the late emperor Marcus Aurelius' death.  The one thing that gave him the opportunity to fulfill this task was the one thing that enslaved him.  It's quite peculiar that fulfilling this task also meant exacting revenge on the person who took his family and killed the only father figure in his life.  This struggle for human dignity between Commudus and Maximus ultimately resulted in their deaths.  And, in death Maximus achieved the ultimate task: giving the power back to the people and meeting his family in the afterlife.