Amazon.com Essentials:
Stanley Kubrick had already made his talent known with the
outstanding racetrack heist thriller
The Killing, but
it was the 1957 antiwar masterpiece Paths of Glory that
catapulted Kubrick to international acclaim. Based on the novel by
Humphrey Cobb, the film was initiated by Kirk Douglas, who chose the
young Kubrick to direct what would become one of the most powerful
films about the wasteful insanity of warfare. In one of his finest
roles, Douglas plays Colonel Dax, commander of a battle-worn regiment
of the French army along the western front during World War I. Held in
their trenches under the threat of German artillery, the regiment is
ordered on a suicidal mission to capture an enemy stronghold. When the
mission inevitably fails, French generals order the selection of three
soldiers to be tried and executed on the charge of cowardice. Dax is
appointed as defense attorney for the chosen scapegoats, and what
follows is a travesty of justice that has remained relevant and
powerful for decades. In the wake of some of the most authentic and
devastating battle sequences ever filmed, Kubrick brilliantly explores
the political machinations and selfish personal ambitions that result
in battlefield slaughter and senseless executions. The film is
unflinching in its condemnation of war and the self-indulgence of
military leaders who orchestrate the deaths of thousands from the
comfort of their luxurious headquarters. For many years, Paths of
Glory was banned in France as a slanderous attack on French honor,
but it's clear that Kubrick's intense drama is aimed at all nations
and all men. Though it touches on themes of courage and loyalty in the
context of warfare, the film is specifically about the historical
realities of World War I, but its impact and artistic achievement
remain timeless and universal. --Jeff Shannon
