Casablanca, a film regularly cited as one of the greatest movies of all time, was released 70 years ago. It gave us phrases that have passed into the English language, ("Here's looking at you, kid," "Round up the usual suspects", "We'll always have Paris," and "I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship", to name but a few). And it cemented Humphrey Bogart's reputation as the most irresistible anti-hero to cast his weary gaze on the silver screen.
But Casablanca also set a noble and inspiring standard at a time of moral equivalence, prodding the United States to enter the war raging in Europe. Its message is as important today as it was in 1942.
Casablanca was set in contemporary North Africa, during the Second World War, and it involved a love triangle. Humphrey Bogart's character had a choice: to keep Ingrid Bergman, the love of his life, with him in Casablanca, or to send her away with her Czech resistance leader husband. In the end, Bogart sacrificed his own happiness, knowing his rival, fighting against fascism, needed the support of Bergman. As Bogart says at the end of the film, "The problems of three little people in a big world don't add up to much."
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