0:00 The final script for Casablanca wasn't finished until the very last day of shooting.0:06 Ingrid Bergman famously had no idea whether Ilsa would end up with Rick or Laszlo until they filmed the final scene.0:14 Oh, wow.0:15 It's completely chaotic, and it gets right to what we were debating last week on "Timeless or Tired" — is a classic made by perfect design, or is it just, uh, catching lightning in a bottle?0:29 Because for me, Casablanca is the ultimate proof of the latter.0:34 See, and for me, that chaos you mention is right there on the screen.0:39 I mean, it’s an icon, of course.0:42 But is it a truly great film by today’s standards?0:45 I’m...0:46 not so sure.0:47 What?0:47 You can't be serious.0:49 The dialogue alone!0:50 "Of all the gin joints in all the towns in all the world, she walks into mine." Every line is a knockout.0:58 It’s cynical, it's romantic, it's funny.1:01 It's got EVERYTHING.1:02 It's got some great one-liners, I will absolutely give you that.1:07 But the first act is...1:09 a slog.1:09 You spend twenty-five minutes just meeting a revolving door of indistinct European refugees before the plot even kicks in.1:19 The pacing is pure 1940s.1:20 That's called world-building!1:23 It establishes the stakes, the desperation.1:26 Rick's Café is this microcosm of a world on the brink of war.1:30 You need to feel that atmosphere for his cynical detachment to mean anything.1:36 Okay, but let's talk about the characters inside that world.1:41 Specifically, Ilsa.1:42 I mean, her entire identity is just...1:45 which powerful man she's currently tied to.1:48 First Rick, then Victor Laszlo.1:50 She has almost no agency of her own.1:53 I think that’s a really ungenerous reading.1:56 She’s caught between a past love and a present duty to a cause she believes in.2:02 That's not a lack of agency, that’s a complex, impossible choice.2:07 That's the whole engine of the story.2:10 Is it her choice, though?2:12 I mean, really?2:13 Rick is the one who ultimately makes the decision for her at the airport.2:18 He engineers the whole thing.2:20 He tells her what her future is going to be.2:24 Because he loves her!2:25 He’s sacrificing his own happiness for the greater good, and for her to be with her husband, the heroic resistance leader.2:34 It's the ultimate act of selfless love.2:37 Or—and hear me out—it's the ultimate act of paternalistic control.2:42 He decides that his moral redemption is more important than her stated desire, which was to stay with him.2:50 The entire climax is about Rick's journey back to idealism.2:55 Ilsa is just the beautiful instrument for his character development.3:00 Wow.3:00 Okay, so you're saying the most iconic noble gesture in cinema history is actually...3:06 selfish?3:07 I’m saying it centers the man's journey.3:10 It’s his story.3:11 She’s a catalyst, not a co-protagonist.3:14 The film works beautifully if you see it as "The Redemption of Rick Blaine." It kind of falls apart if you expect Ilsa to be a person on the same level.3:25 Alright, I can see what you mean about Ilsa's agency.3:29 I really can.3:30 But I think you're letting that one aspect overshadow the film's central theme, which is more vital now than ever.3:39 Which is?3:40 "The problems of three little people don't amount to a hill of beans in this crazy world." It’s the idea of sacrificing your personal desires for a cause bigger than yourself.3:53 In an age of, you know, radical individualism, that message feels profound, not dated.3:59 Okay, I'll give you that one.4:01 The political dimension, the anti-fascist stance, the feeling of a world on the edge where you have to pick a side...4:10 that part still lands.4:12 It absolutely does.4:13 So it's not a total loss for you.4:16 No, not a total loss.4:17 It's a gorgeous, brilliantly-acted film with some of the best dialogue ever written.4:23 It’s also a film where the female lead is treated more like a precious object to be passed between men than a person.4:32 Both things can be true.4:34 So it’s a flawed masterpiece.4:36 We can agree on that?4:38 Let's call it an essential artifact.4:40 It’s like a stunning piece of antique furniture.4:44 I can admire its craftsmanship and its history, but I don't necessarily want it in my living room.4:51 Huh.4:52 I guess that leaves the real question, then.4:55 Do we need our classics to be perfect reflections of our modern values, or is their power in showing us just how far we've come?
