Casablanca Movie Essay

Character and Movie Overview Casablanca (1942) is a romantic drama set in Casablanca, a city in French-controlled Morocco during World War II. The movie depicts the experiences of the residents of Casablanca, with focus on Rick Blaine, an expatriate barred from returning to his country, and the patrons of his café, as well as the refugees from throughout Europe who are hoping to escape the Nazis to the safety in the still-neutral United States of America. The conflicts of the movie center around Rick’s possession of ‘letters of transit’, which are previously approved documents that would allow anyone the ability to leave Casablanca, and those who wish to have access to the letters including a Resistance leader, who happens to be married to

While growing up, Rick’s only example of a functioning job was his father’s. As a hired gun, Rick’s father Alexander made sure he had ‘insurance policies’ or some form of protection from his clients so to ensure his own safety as well as Rick, allowing himself to accept jobs from either side of many conflicts. This neutrality provided him with access to more jobs, which were necessary for him to support himself as well as Rick. Due to this strategy, Alexander worked for both sides of many of the gang wars throughout New York City, with a sense of invincibility. This invincibility lead to Alexander becoming prominent and well-respected throughout the city, and provided Rick to see through operant learning, that there were perks to keeping a neutral stance in life. In Rick’s teen years, he began to work with his father in his business as a hired gun and ‘problem-solver’ for many of New York city’s gangs. By spending his days with his father and being exposed to some of New York’s most noteworthy crime bosses, Rick’s moral compass was formed in congruence with his father’s. Rick’s behavioural tendency to stay neutral comes from modelling the behaviours that he was exposed to during his