Paths Of Glory Film Analysis

If the thought of war which is a bunch of people trying to kill another group of people doesn’t scare you then when you have people who are in charge of the soldiers’ lives that are corrupt shows how trivial the soldier’s life can be. During the scenes of action especially with Col. Dax running trying to regiment 701 out of the trenches again shows the madness that is in this film. Dax tries to get them out of the trenches but the soldiers will not move because they know they will die. When Dax goes up the ladder out of the trench to try to lead the charge shows why the soldiers won’t move because Dax can’t get out of the trench without a dead body rolling onto him. Another infuriating scene in Paths of Glory, that’s shows how greedy the people in charge during the war is the trial scene. This scene is why this film is highly regarded as a great film. This scene makes the audience feel something,
The ideology of power and greed is cemented when three soldiers are killed. If you don’t believe me Jackson Burgess from the film quarterly said this about climax of the film. “One of the most powerful scenes in this powerful film-the famous “cockroach line”- casts a perplexingly ambiguous light upon the whole action. In the stable-prison the night before the execution, Corporal Paris cries, “Tomorrow, when I’m dead, that cockroach will be closer to my wife than I’ll ne,” and Private Ferolles smashes the cockroach with his fist saying: “Now you’re one up on the cockroach.” By a brutal act of destruction, an illusion of power is achieved. Later on, the lives of the three soldiers are snuffed out as abruptly and brutally as was the cockroach’s life, for the sake of General Mireau’s illusion of power.”(Burgess) Burgess is correct that the killing of three soldier to save him from the mistake of even trying to take the ant hill was and illusion of his power by killing the three