Based on a real story, this Kubrick early work is as condemning of the French mentality as Le Corbeau, but at the same time universalist in its depiction of the corruption of powerful and haplessness of the little guy. In order to get a new medal, a French officer, ugly both inside and out, cold, selfish and arrogant, orders a senseless attack on some insignificant hill along the trenches in which he fully expects more than half of the soldiers to die. During the attack, soldiers fall back to trenches, yet he orders artillery to bomb its own side for not attacking enough, but the senseless request is declined. Later, he orders a court-martial for cowardice for three random soldiers who are later executed, despite being innocent. The men are shot but the officer is revealed to be what he is, ordering bombing of his soldiers, later on. All this based on a real incident in the French army in WWI, and the movie was banned in France for almost 20 years, and Switzerland, Germany and even Spain followed suit in order not to offend the French or military sensibilities. It is a potent condemnation of power and of human condition, a cynical yet realistic view into workings of not only the petty French psyche with its hypocrisies, but is applicable more generally to humans less obviously degen erate. Shot in black and white with some early glimpses into Kubrick cinematic methods and tricks of his later, more celebrated work.
Review of Paths of Glory
