As part of our education in scriptwriting, we've been methodically watching the films mentioned in Linda Cowgill's book. Tonight we saw Casablanca, a film I hadn't sat through in many years. This particular scene made me cry, but I didn't know why until later.
In the famous scene where the "Marseillaise" is sung over the German song "Watch on the Rhine", many of the extras had real tears in their eyes; a large number of them were actual refugees from Nazi persecution in Germany and elsewhere in Europe and were overcome by the emotions the scene brought out.
[From Casablanca (1942) - Trivia]
The corresponding chapter to Casablanca is entitled, "Characterization's relationship to structure", though I haven't finished reading it yet. As Ms. Cowgill explains, basically every character has three motivations:
1. What does the character want? (plot oriented goal)
2. Why does he want it? (conscious motivation)
3. What does he need emotionally or psychologically? (unconscious motivations, i.e. the most fun for a writer to manipulate).
Not the place for a proper review of the film, but the propaganda for "sacrifice" and ending isolationism is frequent, and not subtle. Americans should make concessions for the upcoming war effort, in other words. Such a contrast to our gilded age.
