Stanley Kubrick is one of the true masters of making movies with so many masterpieces to his name including "Spartacus", "Dr. Strangelove", "2001: A Space Odyssey", "The Shining", and 'Full Metal Jacket" this movie is a worthy addition to that resume for me and is the best war film that Kubrick ever directed. I haven't seen that many WWI movies in my life besides this movie and "All Quiet on the Western Front" which was from the German viewpoint, and the key difference with this movie in terms of the plot is that this movie presents the French point of view. Kirk Douglas stars in one of his finest performances as Colonel Dax a soldier who is in charge of group of soldiers tasked with the impossible task of taking the Ant Hill from the Germans and once he realizes the impossibility of the mission they're forced to retreat and General Paul Mireau (George Macready) the commanding officer present for the failed operation accuses Dax's battallion of cowardice in the face of the enemy and court martials them and only three soldiers can be tried and Dax himself volunteers to defend them in a trial rigged against them and are thus found guilty and sentenced to death by firing squad. I had been dying to see for years and it really exceeded my expectations as to how great it was going to be because I went into this thinking it was going to be a war movie that just focuses on the fighting but this movie is more than just fighting and loyalty to one's country. When Kirk Douglas accepted the AFI lifetime achievement award in 1991 he said that he used to believe that movies should be merely entertaining and not have a message and that belief gradually changed as he got older and believes that movies should make statements in order for the betterment of mankind. The movie is a movie effectively hones its message of war being hell for the soldiers that fight in them andsometimes even in impossible odds get punished even though they were trying to serve their country which rarely happens in any country's military. The movie is one of the most well acted and well made anti-war statements ever put on film along with "Platoon" and "Saving Private Ryan" and is one of the very best movies of the late 1950'.
Review of Paths of Glory
