by Kiara Walker
Casablanca is a great romance, a stirring wartime adventure, a suspenseful action movie, and in the end, a terrific buddy movie. Simply put, it is the story of Rick Blaine ,Humphrey Bogart, a world-weary ex-freedom fighter who runs a nightclub in Casablanca during the early part of WWII. Despite pressure from the local authorities, notably the crafty Capt. Renault ,Claude Rains, Rick's cafĂ has become a haven for refugees looking to purchase illicit letters of transit which will allow them to escape to America. One day, to Rick's great surprise, he is approached by the famed rebel Victor Laszlo ,Paul Henreid, and his wife, Ilsa ,Ingrid Bergman, Rick's true love who deserted him when the Nazis invaded Paris. She still wants Victor to escape to America, but now that she's renewed her love for Rick, she wants to stay behind in Casablanca. But the plan unfolds, he got her and her husband a plane to leave and he stayed behind.
After Renault and Victor leave momentarily, the camera tracks in dramatically for a MCU of Rick and Ilsa, and note the camera is from the side—neither person’s point of view. Rick begins to lay the groundwork for his plan to send Ilsa off with Victor. “You’re getting on that plane.” The same camera set-up is reestablished after a cut-away to Renault—again to emphasize the dramatic conversation as the camera tracks back in from LS to MCU of the two, again from the side—but at the last minute shifts to Rick’s point of view. Then the point of view shifts through a series of reverse angle shots—from Rick to Ilsa, then Rick, then Ilsa, then Rick, then Ilsa. Each time point of view shifts notice that either the speaker’s face is featured (to emphasize dialogue, as in Rick’s case) or the reactor’s face is featured (to emphasize understanding, as in Ilsa’s case). Finally the point of view shot that had shown both characters in the frame changes to an interpretive point of view shot of Ilsa, in CU, the aura of light softening her face and the tears growing in her eyes. We hear the voice-over of Rick’s continuing dialogue, almost as if she is hearing this in her dreams--“I’m not good at being noble, but it doesn’t take much to see that the problems of three little people don’t amount to a hill of beans in this crazy world.” In this same close-up, Ilsa drops her chin, as if feeling defeated by fate—and this staging position is altered when we see Rick’s fingers lift her chin. “Now, now.”
