Art Appreciation and Philosophy

One of Hollywood’s most celebrated films, Casablanca follows the cynical and dashing Rick Blaine (Humphrey Bogart), a nightclub owner in the Moroccan city of Casablanca during World War II. Rick’s past unexpectedly catches up with him when Ilsa Lund (Ingrid Bergman) — the woman who broke his heart — arrives in his gin joint with her fugitive husband, desperately seeking help to escape the Nazis. As he wrestles with his decision, the film explores ideas of exile and displacement, the difficulty of remaining neutral in love and war, the inescapability of the past, and the power of luck. Casablanca was initially a solid box-office success and has over time become a classic of American cinema for its memorable dialogue and iconic performances.

Roger Ebert: "If there is ever a time when they decide that some movies should be spelled with an upper-case M, Casablanca should be voted first on the list of Movies."

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Join the Toronto Philosophy Meetup to discuss the holiday classic Casablanca (1942) directed by the Hungarian filmmaker Michael Curtiz, recently voted the 63rd greatest movie of all time in Sight & Sound's international survey of film critics and scholars. It was nominated for eight Academy Awards in 1944, winning for Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Adapted Screenplay. Fun fact: the film was rushed into release to take advantage of the publicity from the Allied invasion of North Africa.

Please watch the movie in advance (102 minutes) and bring your thoughts, reactions, and queries to share with us at the meeting. You can stream the movie for free via a link to be posted on the main event page.

A trailer.

Note: We'll be joined by many other participants from other groups at this meeting. We have movie discussions about once or twice a month.