Pro-allied Elements in the Film, Casablanca

Audience members, when seeing Casablanca, would associate it as a war film, and I agree with that, but to be more precise, it is a pro Allie war film. The literary elements in the film are the reasons why it can be viewed this way, with the emphasis on the plot and characters. The timing of when the film was released also supports the idea of it being an anti Axis film. Although it was set in 1940, it was made a year after Pearl Harbor and America entering the war, but it was released right before the Allies had a meeting in Casablanca, so the filmmakers seemed to have wanted the audience to empathize with the Allies.

The whole plot seems to be focused around how Rick is neutral at the beginning of the film, but because of an old flame coming into his life once again, he slowly becomes in favor of the Allie side. His neutral side is evident in one sense by the way he never drinks with customers, since drinking with a certain group may be considered being biased by another. Throughout the film, it is shown that Rick allows anyone and everyone into his bar; Germans, French, Czechs, and many other nationalities. But at one time during the beginning of the film, Rick's support for the Allies kicks in by not allowing a German into the back of the club, where it is evident that many people have managed to make their way back there, no matter what nationality they are. Throughout the movie, Rick's character slowly shows how pro Allie he really is. In one scene in his bar, this expression of supporting the Allies goes from quiet to vocal and showy. A Bulgarian woman comes over to him at the beginning of the scene, asking for his help in getting exit passes to Lisbon with her husband. In other scenes, Rick would ignore pleas from women but in this case, he sits down with her and listens to her. When he hears her story, he works his way to the roulette table and advises her husband to put all his money on a certain number. While Rick is saying this, the croupier takes Rick's advising the Bulgarian as to rig the roulette to land on that number. Later on, the German soldiers start a drunken rendition of "Wacht am Rhein," the German patriotic anthem.