Paths of Glory

Based on the novel by Humphrey Cobb, Stanley Kubrick directed the movie Paths of corona in 1957. Kirk Douglas plays the role of Colonel Dax, a com earthder of the French army in World War I. Held in their trenches against the threat of Ger humanness thronenons, the regiment is reproducible on a suicidal mission to capture the Germans. When the mission fails, French generals army terce soldiers to be tried and executed on the counselling of cowardice. Dax is selected defense attorney for the chosen soldiers. Kubrick explores the political planning and selfish ad hominem ambitions that result in battlefield slaughter and irrational motions.The movie is regular in its disapproval of war and the pleasure- sympathizeking of military leaders who arrange the deaths of thousands from the pull of their headquarters. In the beginning of the movie, General Mireau verb whollyy aimed artillery draw disclose on his own men because they had non left the trenches to attack the enemy. This order was denied because it was not written and printed by the general himself. Verbal orders cannot be given out for it could be false. With a signed order, proof is seen from the signature.General Mireau refused to sign the order and instead became very upset. His outrage brought him to the decision to kill threesome soldiers. A meeting was held between General Broulard, General Mireau and Colonel Dax. General Broulard cherished to execute one-hundred of his own men for cowardice. Of course Colonel Dax disagreed. Therefore, General Broulard brought the number mess to a dozen. The result was to choose one man from each regiment and then execute them. There were three regiments so in that location would be three men randomly picked by their lieutenant.Colonel Dax then requested that he be chosen as their defense attorney. He also had the office of choosing soul who would be in charge of executing these men if they maintain guilty in their trial. I would say that their trial was taken stance in a Kangaroo court. Kangaroo court is defined as a unauthorized tribunal that leave outs or parodies existing principles of law or human rights. entirely three men chosen for the execution walked in the court wee to be tried with Colonel Dax as their defense attorney.The judge, along with everyone else involved, seemed to already shake off a decision without populateing the character of each man, evidence and what their attorney had to say. The first man who spoke before the court was a cat who admitted he made it out of the trenches and into no mans region. According to him, everyone around him was left dead except for one big cat who was still left standing. They both headed acantha to the trenches so they could stay alive. He mentioned that he probably should have moved forward but instead he retreated.The second man who spoke before the court admitted that he advanced from the trenches until he was ordered back. All the court cared about was ho w furthermost he got out of the trench. They didnt care that he was ordered to retreat. When Colonel Dax mentioned the two medals the second man received over time, they were not interested. Finally, the third man was be tried. When he was climbing out of the trench, he was knocked out stone cold because of a corpse that fell on him. The court showed no mercy on any of these men. They were all plead guilty and sentenced to death.How can a man be a coward if he remained alive time everyone else lay dead? Why would he or any man for that matter continue going forward alone instead of retreating back to save their own life? How is a man a coward if he is doing nothing but obeying orders? What would make a court plead someone guilty of cowardice when that person has a medal in courage? Why would a court execute a man who neer had the chance to leave the trench because he was knocked unconscious by a dead body? All of these questions had to be going through Colonel Daxs head.Gener al Mireau asked Colonel Dax the question, Are you baulking the authenticity of this court? He replied with the answer, Yes sir. I protest against cosmos prevented from introducing evidence which I considered vital to the defense the prosecution presented no witnesses there has never been a written indictment of charges made against the defendants, and lastly, I protest against the fact that no stenographic records of this trial have been kept. The attack yesterday morning was no stain of the honor of France, and certainly no humble to the fighting men of this nation.But this Court Martial is much(prenominal) a stain, and such a disgrace. The case made against these men is a mockery of all human averageice. Gentlemen of the court, to find these men guilty would be a crime, to fix each of you till the day you die. I cant gestate that the noblest impulse for man his compassion for another can be exclusively dead here. Therefore, I humbly beg you show mercy to these men. su bsequently on during the movie, Colonel Dax summons deputy sheriff Roget to his quarters and orders the police officer the assignment of superintendence the firing squad a job which requires putting a smoking in each prisoners head. Youve got the job. Its all yours, Colonel Dax says. deputy sheriff Roget tries to back out and convince Dax he is unfit for the job since he has never do such a task. Dax feels that if Roget had the audacity to pick a soldier of being dead based on the charge of cowardice, he can have-to doe with the responsibility of ending their life. In this scene, Colonel Dax made it a point that Lieutenant Roget made a personal decision with his own reasons instead of pickaxe from random because he was ordered to. Why did Lieutenant Roget choose Cpl. genus capital of France to be executed?Before the assault, Dax ordered three officers (Lieutenant Roget, Corporal capital of France and Private Lejeune) to go on a reconnaissance patrol into the iniquity of no-mans-land. The lieutenant forfeited himself, leaving the other two soldiers by themselves just because he was scared. Unfortunately, Private Lejeune did not make it out alive. When Corporate Paris returns back to French lines, he enters Lieutenants bunker to call on the carpet with him. Roget, shocked to see Paris, says, I thought youd been killed. You didnt appear around to find out, did you Lieutenant?I mean you ran a standardized a rabbit after you killed Lejeune, Corporal Paris snaps back. Lieutenant Roget did not assess the tone and accusations being pointed at him whatsoever. He clearly lets Paris know that he is an officer and he should never be spoken to deal that. Paris continues by saying, Oh, well, I must be mistaken then, sir. An officer wouldnt do that. A man wouldnt do it. barely a thing would a sneaky, booze-guzzling, yellow-bellied rat with a store for a brain and a streak of spit where his spine ought to be. Youve got yourself into a mess, Lieutenant. Ro get cynically expresses his superiority and counter-reprimands him for insubordination, threatening a superior officer, and refusing to obey an order and inciting others to do the same. Paris threatens to bring charges and accuses his superior officer of drunkenness on duty, wanton murder of one of his own men, and cowardice in the administration of the enemy. That is why bringing Corporal Paris to execution was personal for Lieutenant Roget. With proof that will hopefully save the three soldiers lives from execution, Dax ask to see General Broulard to report the new information he has just learned.With disregard to the information, Broulard replies, Maybe the attack against the Ant Hill was impossible. Perhaps it was an error of view on our part. On the other hand, if your men had been a little more(prenominal)(prenominal) daring, you might have taken it. Who knows? Why should we have to bear more criticism and failure than we have to? These executions will be a gross(a) tonic for the entire division. There are few things more essentially encouraging and stimulating than seeing someone else die. You see, Colonel, military man are like children. Just as a child wants his father to be firm, troops crave discipline.And one way to maintain discipline is to shoot a man now and then. Dax had sworn statements by the men who witnessed General Mireau social club artillery fire on his own men during the attack. He implies that the execution would not proceed if all the court knew Mireaus actions to fire on his own men. General Broulard is not justified in holding his fructify with respect because he had the choice to stop the execution but chose not to. He believes that killing three innocent men shows an example in maintaining discipline. He chose not to stop this for he did not want to touch sensation bad upon.I believe that if he would have stopped the execution like Colonel Dax wanted him too it would not look bad on Broulard. skilful responsibility wou ld have been over General Mireau for poor judgment and the lack of morals. General Mireau made this decision based on his ego and authority. Stanley Kubrick brings in the theme class distinction by making it clear that everyone is afraid. If stratified higher in power, fear can be overlooked in the form of authority. Lower classes were shown to be located in trenches while those ameliorate off became Generals and Colonels.To those in power, other soldiers were chess pieces to their decisions. That is where Kubrick uses the theme nationalism. The cliche nub to an end is a good example of what General Broulard believed. He believed that if three men getting executed were what it took for the rest of the regiments to follow orders, then that is what it took to be successful in the war. He made decisions on what he believed was beat out even if it was morally wrong. The execution gave him and General Mireau a superior nationalistic feeling, and that is where Colonel Dax conflicted with both Generals.