Why the glory paths of the film Kirk Douglas were prohibited in several countries

There will always be an appetite for films on the Second World War. It is a classic story of good against evil, which is obviously reductive in real history, but when Hollywood already took it into account? The First World War, on the other hand, does not provide easy accounts. It is, to put it simply, a war for nothing. The great powers of the beginning of the 20th century had an arsenal of new brilliant toys, and the assassination of the Archduke Franz Ferdinand ignited a barrel of international tension powder and triggered their weapons of mass destruction.

There are no good and bad during the First World War, with soldiers and citizens taken in the midst of a small quarrel between their nationalist leaders. It is therefore not surprising that there are fewer films from the First World War. The few we have received in the past two years, like “All Quiet on the Western Front” and “1917”, are short of heroists and are closer to a horror film than your typical war film.

One of the best entries in the Film Catalog in the First World War is the film “Paths of Glory” by Stanley Kubrick. The image follows the colonel Dax of Kirk Douglas serving in the French army because he is responsible for directing his men on a suicide mission, that his bosses know that it is intended to fail. He follows his order, trusting the chain of command, but in the chaos of the battle, his men naturally turn around from a certain death. Rather than accepting the blame for failure, the general in charge of the operation blames the supposed cowardice of men and orders three men, chosen at random as representatives of the whole team, to be courted and executed.

Everything was based on a true story, but the radical vision of Kubrick turned out to be too real for some of the powers in place, and “Paths of Glory” was prohibited in several countries.

As the credits roll on “paths of glory”, the accused cowards are executed and the bosses are responsible for failure receive nothing more than a slap. This dark and unhappy end which left the amazed audience and received praise from criticism at the exit, but that did not help the film to find fans in the corridors of power.

Considered a provocative anti-military film of governments around the world, “Paths of Glory” caused the greatest controversy in France without surprise. The defenders inside and outside the French army decried the representation of the French generals by the film, and the French government put pressure on the European distributor of the film so as not to release the film. He would not detect in France before 1975, a delay of 18 years.

The German and Swiss governments followed the example of France and delayed the film, Germany delaying it for two years to try to stall the favor of France, while the Swiss government prohibited the film until 1970. The US military also prohibited the film in all its military bases, both in their homes and abroad, perhaps to prevent their troops from questioning their leader’s decisions. The fascist dictatorship of Spain, General Francisco Franco, has instituted the longest ban on the film, preventing the “paths of glory” to project into Spain until 1986, 19 years later and 11 years after the death of Franco.

Despite their best efforts, “Paths of Glory” lives, inspiring countless filmmakers and one of the best television shows of all time. And almost 20 years after their unjustified executions, the men who inspired the film were posthumously exempt by the French government. It could be too little, too late, but it is certainly the least they could do to honor their sacrifice.