Released during one of the most turbulent periods in modern history, Casablanca (1942) remains a cinematic masterpiece that continues to define the golden age of Hollywood. Directed by Michael Curtiz and starring Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman, and Paul Henreid, the film masterfully intertwines romance, moral conflict, and political intrigue against the backdrop of World War II. While many of its contemporaries faded with time, Casablanca has not only endured but grown in stature, achieving legendary status as a film that captures both the personal and the universal dimensions of wartime experience.
The movie is set in the Moroccan city of Casablanca, then under Vichy French control, and revolves around Rick Blaine (played by Humphrey Bogart), an American expatriate who owns the popular nightclub “Rick’s Café Américain.” When Ilsa Lund (Ingrid Bergman), the woman who broke his heart in Paris, walks into his club with her husband Victor Laszlo (Paul Henreid)—a renowned leader of the Czech resistance—Rick is forced to choose between his lingering love for Ilsa and his moral duty to help Laszlo escape from the Nazis. This conflict, at once deeply personal and profoundly political, serves as the emotional heart of Casablanca.
