"Road to Glory" is a war film made by Kubrick in 1957, reflecting a battle between France and Germany during World War I. The ridiculous cause of death of three soldiers in the film expresses the director's philosophy of human nature and "patriotism". In addition to the story text, the director played a role in expressing the theme through the use of sports photography and the use of non-narrative materials, which is quite masterful.
There are two very contrasting sports photography in the movie. One is when General Miró is patrolling the trenches, and the other is when Captain Dax is patrolling the trenches before charging. In these two paragraphs, the contrast brought by different photographic viewpoints and background sound effects expresses the theme outside of the narrative.
Motion shot one
(The imposing general marches on the drums)
When General Milo was patrolling the trenches, he paused three times and talked to three soldiers, and the three soldiers who were questioned (the last one was the soldier next to the questioned person) happened to be the last selected to be executed. Soldier. In the beginning, the camera was shooting directly at Miró, that is, backing in the trenches. When Miró walked, the background music of the snare drum (the kind of honor guard) sounded, in line with Miró’s majestic expression, a general The image of his pride is on paper, and then combined with the story, we know that behind this kind of pride is his hypocrisy.
When Miro stopped interrogating, the background sound of the snare drum stopped, which was quite ritual. We noticed that the three soldiers who were later executed did not participate in the narrative at this time, but the director happened to have them appear in Miró’s three pauses, and when the first soldier answered, a bomb exploded in the background. The spot on the screen was directly above his head; when the second soldier answered, the sound of the machine gun sounded; although the third soldier did not answer, he witnessed a reprimand. The director used images, sounds, and violent plots to hint at the fate of the three soldiers.
(The person being questioned happened to be the one who was executed later)
When Milo was angered by the "silly" soldiers, the camera turned to shoot his back, and the front shot was switched to the back shot, expressing Miluo's pride and frustration.
Motion lens 2
(Subjective shot of the captain)
When Captain Dax patrolled the trenches, the director took a completely different perspective from that of General Miró. When General Milo raised his wine glass in the war room and said "To France", the screen immediately cut to Captain Dax's subjective viewpoint in the trenches: in the trenches, the soldiers looked desperately at the screen (that is, watching Dax). (That is, looking at the camera/that is, looking at the audience), after traveling for a while, the picture cuts to the frontal shot of the half-length of Dachs, back and forth four times in this way.
Because what the soldiers are about to perform is an impossible mission, Dax and the soldiers have no confidence at all. The subjective shots here, combined with the rumble of gunfire, suddenly narrowed the psychological distance between the audience and Captain Dax. The audience empathizes with Dax and the soldiers, which lays the foundation for later thinking about human nature and patriotism.
Through the above two shots, we can see that Kubrick paid great attention to the use of non-narrative materials (the three soldiers that Milo stopped to look at), the image information (the position of the explosion above the head of the first soldier), and the sound effects (drums). , Explosion), and through them to express the theme outside the narrative, forming their own strong style.
View more about Paths of Glory reviews
