I watched Casablanca Thursday night at the Tate theater on cam
pus, and the place was packed with college students Seeing the
film again reminded me of the column below (slightly shortened
here), which I wrote in March. 2003. after seeing Casablanca at
the beginning of the Iraq war. Sadly, the column is still relevant,
even with Obama in place of Bush.
THIS WEEK’S ISSUE:
[MEWS (§2 FEATURES
City Dope 4
Athens News and Views
Plenty of money for roads and bridges but none for social services
Athens Rising 7
What’s Up In New Development
A private developer is interested in the old Armstrong & Dobbs location
HERE'S LOOKING AT YOU
EVENT
The time is 1940, when Europe was at war but America
still slept in isolation, avoiding involvement in foreign wars.
"I stick my neck out for nobody,'' in the words of American
Rick Blaine. Rick runs a nightclub, Cafe Americain, the place
to be. "Everybody comes to Rick's." The cafe is a kind of
United Nations in exile, staffed by people forced to flee their
own countries. "The trading banker in Amsterdam is now the
pastry chef in our kitchen." At its tables intrigue abounds, as
everybody scrambles to find a way out to the freedom of the
Americas.
Then, into Rick's place walks his lost love, lisa, on the arm
of her husband, the renowned freedom fighter, Victor Laszlo,
and destiny snaps to attention, as does the amiably cor
rupt prefet de police, Louis Renault. So does Major Heinrich
Strasser, the representative of the Third Reich.
"It's still the same old story, a fight for love and glory: a
case of do or die." Love and glory so inextricably intertwine
in Casablanca that the story is driven to its climax by those
twin passions, ending with Laszlo welcoming Rick back to the
fight, while Rick sends the tearful lisa off to freedom with her
husband, against her desire to stay
with him.
The cynical Rick, who didn't
want to get involved, is now noble.
He has killed Major Strasser and
heads out of Casablanca to join the Free French, the begin
ning of a beautiful friendship with Louis Renault. Fog. Music.
Curtain.
Casablanca is a great reminder of why we fight, and no
doubt our president George Bush [Barack Obama]—in that
greatest of all perils, the White House movie theater where he
can see any film he wants—watches this one and identifies
with, whom?
Bush [Obama] can't identify with Rick. Rick is cynical and
uncommitted. Bush [Obama] is a true believer ready to act.
But Bush [Obama] is not Laszlo, either. Victor Laszlo is the
underground fighter. He has no armies, just the purity of his
conviction and his dedication to the cause of fighting the
tyranny which is conquering the world and has pursued him to
Casablanca.
In the world reflected in Rick's place the national commu
nity respects Victor Laszlo and pulls for Rick to join Laszlo's
fight. At Rick's place, the world abhors Major Strasser and the
dive bombers and Panzer divisions that have devastated their
world.
No doubt President Bush [Obama], hunkered in the White
House cinema, sees Major Strasser as Saddam Hussein [Osama
bin Laden?] and himself as a kind of High Noon Gary Cooper
facing the bully alone while the rest of the world cowers.
The inescapable fact, however, is that the rest of the world
sees President Bush [President Obama] as Major Strasser, sow
ing destruction and death with his dive bombers, without
regard to the urgent pleas of the world community.
If Major Strasser represents us now, who, then, is Victor
Laszlo? I shudder to follow the logic, but is he not some
impassioned young Muslim, newly driven to resistance and
martyrdom by the forces that will blast his village, killing his
sisters and sending him into exile?
The world has always wondered how the cultured German
people could be taken over by a dictatorship that abrogated
the rights of minorities and waged war on the world. One
answer is that the tyrants took over their cultural symbols and
manipulated them for the ends of the all-powerful state and its
war machine.
Shall our nation watch Casablanca through new eyes, cheer
ing Major Strasser as he bravely ignores world opinion to fight
terrorists like Victor Laszlo? In the fog of war, you're either for
us or against us, even if we are the aggressors and lose the
high ground, as time goes by.
Pete McCommons editor@flagpole.com
“I stick my neck
out for nobody.”
Art Notes 9
Wood Blocks and Metal Type
The Art of Hatch Show Print" exhibition offers powerful illustrations of life in the
South
Miscellany 13
Get Your Ath Together
Botanical Garden plant sale, the North Georgia Folk Festival. Insect-ival and
more...
[MUSH©
Threats & Promises 14
Music News and Gossip
Warm Fuzzies offering Fuzz of the Month! New release from Masters of the
Hemisphere! And more...
The Bronzed Chorus 16
Instrumental Dance Rock, Now with More Atari!
A lineup change sends this skilled duo into 8-bit territory.
CITY DOPE 4
CITY PAGES 5
CAPITOL IMPACT 6
ATHENS RISING 7
9/11. PT 2 8
ART NOTES 9
PARKING DECK ART 10
MOVIE DOPE 12
MISCELLANY 13
THREATS & PROMISES 14
RECORD REVIEWS 15
THE BRONZED CHORUS 16
ATMOSPHERE 17
THE CALENDAR! 18
BULLETIN BOARD 24
ART AROUND TOWN 25
COMICS 26
REALITY CHECK 27
CLASSIFIEDS 28
EVERYDAY PEOPLE 31
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ISSUE NUMBER 36
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