Movies

The films Casablanca and The Proof of Life depict the male leading characters as cynical and almost apathetic men who in the end, were forced to choose virtue over love for the greater good under difficult circumstance. In Casablanca, Humphrey Bogart plays Rick Blaine, an American expatriate, who runs an upscale joint in the French-occupied city during World War II. The bar is a watering hole for refugees who want to exit war-torn Europe and gain entry to America. He soon has his life complicated when an old flame, Ilsa (Ingrid Bergman) re-enters his life with excess baggage in tow. He soon finds out that the reason Ilsa left him back when they were in Paris was because she found out that her revolutionary husband, Laszlo (Paul Henreid), was actually alive and not killed in a Nazi concentration camp, as she initially thought. The plot thickens when Ilsa asked for the two exit visas that Rick has in his possession, even pointing a gun at him.
But she soon breaks down and confessed her undying love for him. Just when everyone thinks that the two ex-lovers would be reunited for good, another twist turns. Proof of life is set in fictional town of Tecala, South America, where Peter Bowman (David Morse), is kidnapped by guerilla rebels, leaving his wife, Alice (Meg Ryan) to seek help in order to rescue him. As Peters company insurance does not cover kidnapping incidents, Alice hires an ex-Australian soldier, Terry Thorne (Russell Crowe) to facilitate search and rescue operations. Romantic tensions soon developed between the two and it even escalated when Alice received misinformation that her husband is dead. What I want to state here is movie writers, from then and now, have the good guys finish, almost always, last in scripts involving love triangles.

In the last remaining scenes in Casablanca, where Ilsa wanted to remain in Casablanca with Rick, but instead he convinced her to fly to exile-state Lisbon to be with Victor, once cant help wonder why Rick cant bear his conscience and have his love lost again, and maybe forever. When in fact, he already did a dozen good deeds when he helped the couple escape German army, obtain exit visas for them, and drive them to the airport. He even killed a German general in the process. Rick already had the chance to be reunited with his love, a woman who turned his heart into stone the first time they met, but he chose the higher road and had her go with her husband, whom she confessed she didnt love. Dont you think this will do more harm in the process Also, in The Proof of Life, Alice heard from a co-kidnap victim that Peter was already shot dead during an escape attempt. Of all people, it was Terry who convinced Alice that he had a feeling that her husband was still alive and he would still continue looking for him. Alas, during the course of the search, Terry was able to find Peter and has him reunite with Alice.

I am not really complaining about the outcome of these movies or other movies with similar story lines but if these were to happen in real life, I think any true-blooded man would do anything to keep their loved ones at any cost. They go to the extent of risking their lives but in the end, they still end up the lonely heroes they are. Theres too much mushy overkill in this type of movie and I would love to see a film one day where the protagonist says, Screw it, they can take everything but not my girl. But I guess movies were made a good purpose, to have the viewing public feel good about themselves and also have them pondering when they dive back into the real world from the reel one.