Paths of Glory

1957 war movie

Rating: 18/20

Plot: Some children living in the same neighborhood play an elaborate game of war. They're having a blast until Kenny, the boy playing the general, gets mad because he doesn't think a bunch of the other boys are playing right. "C'mon, fellows! You're supposed to do what I say because I'm the general." The war game eventually falls apart when Walter's dad comes outside and yells at all the kids for digging giant trenches in his back yard and blowing up a birdhouse. Walter's punished. Two other boys are also punished for ruining good school clothes. Later, the boys stop playing war and begin lusting after women instead.

I'm not sure why I always avoided this movie. It's probably because I don't usually like war movies. This one is pretty close to perfect though, an early Kubrick work that unflamboyantly shows off his virtuosity. The battle scene, with an impressive long tracking shot, is wonderfully realistic and tense, and the court martial scene, the climactic scene with the three scapegoats, and the gripping finale are all memorable. There's also an underlying gray humor, most obvious in the cockroach scene but also in the irony and absurdities of these characters make. The general himself, a non-comic performance (contrast to the characters in Strangelove) by George Macready, makes a great villain, ironically the only real enemy in this war movie since you don't ever get to see the soldiers on the ant hill. I love how Kubrick shows his shallowness and heartless egotism in the simple scene where he's conversing with the soldiers in the trenches. Thematically solid, this succinct near-masterpiece has great emotional and philosophical depth. Powerful shiznit.

Recommended by Cory.