Casablanca

Casablanca is about an American nightclub owner who lives in Morocco during World War II. Rick, the main character who owns the Cafe Americain, is a tough, no nonsense type of guy who had a complicated past. Casablanca, the city where most of the film takes place is a refuge for people trying to escape the war torn Europe of the time.A man named Ugarte comes to Rick with letters of transit which he was planning on selling, but is arrested before he gets the chance. Rick now has the letters and is deciding what to do with them. Ilsa, Rick’s ex from Paris and her new man show up into his Cafe Americain one day and clearly need his help. They know Rick has the letters and want to buy them off of him. Ilsa had pretty much broken Rick’s heart a while back and now needs to convince him to give her those letters. The piano player Sam, plays a beautiful song on the piano which is also meaningful to both Rick and Ilsa because they used to listen to it together when they were a thing in Paris. Ilsa’s attempts to get the letters that Rick had now hidden in the piano have failed. She eventually threatens him with a gun and he still refuses. Michael Curtiz, the director did a nice job in this film. He made Rick out to be a heartless and troubled man for most of the film but he eventually does the right thing by making Ilsa and Laszlo get on the plane. It was interesting that the film was actually made during World War II as well. The mise en scene felt accurate for the time period including the Nazi uniforms and the decor in the Cafe. I really enjoyed how everything was brought together so well in the film.