Casablanca's Rick Blaine: A Loving Man Shrouded In Cynicism

One of the best finds at my local Goodwill recently was one of my all-time favorite movies on DVD for $3, Casablanca, which is widely considered to be the best Hollywood film ever made, and one of the most unique and heartbreaking, yet uplifting stories ever told.

Those of us who are intellectual and more mature will likely find Casablanca far more enjoyable than your standard, low-IQ mouth breathing dullard American with a short attention span, primarily because of how relatable many of us will find its protagonist, Rick Blaine, an American expat club owner and businessman, living in the desert city of Casablanca, Morocco, which was Vichy France-controlled territory during World War II (during which time period, the film is set).

It was only right that in the greatest movie ever made, that the greatest actor of all time play its protagonist. Humphrey Bogart played Rick Blaine masterfully, in a way that very artfully emphasized Blaine's morally-ambiguous, kind-hearted yet introverted and cynical personality.

Almost immediately after Rick Blaine is introduced in the film, we are even told through the other characters' dialogue that Blaine is a cynical man, who may even border on selfish. Yet as the story unfolds, and we experience Rick Blaine interact with the world around him, we don't just become privy to how unwittingly fucking cool this guy is (yet another reason he's so likable), but also just how difficult it is for this character to balance his instinctual humanitarianism with his intense desire to mind his own business. It will become easily recognizable just by the end of the first act for any political theorist or intellectual to see that, by today's standards at least, Rick Blaine would probably be considered one of the first American libertarians. Any libertarian who indulges him/herself with watching Casablanca will likely fall in love with Rick Blaine's hatred of authoritarianism, his entrepreneurial skills and business acumen accentuated by a true responsibility and care for his employees, and perhaps above all, a propensity to look out for numero uno.

But Rick Blaine's character is inherently much rounder than his seemingly surface-level selfishness, and definitely far more dynamic than we'd expect, if we'd only watch the first act and not the entire film.

Deep down, Rick Blaine is a good-hearted man, with a strongly-weighted moral compass, who deeply desires the betterment of humanity, despite his reluctance to try to accomplish such a goal himself. Blaine's cynicism provides a strong balance against his heart of gold. His wisdom makes him reluctant to stick his neck out for others, as he knows how easily it could get him into trouble. Blaine often wants to help others (and as the film goes on, we see him doing so more and more frequently), but he views the world a certain way - cynically - and knows that no good deed ever seems to go unpunished.

Rick Blaine's dark past also weighs down on his soul - it haunts him, particularly his experience of heartbreak by a woman he was once truly in love with (and likely still is), Ilsa Lund (played by the beautiful Ingrid Bergman, a classic feminine archetype of the time period). Because of this, Blaine is often depicted in the film as being an alcoholic, who uses the drug to self-medicate and kill the pain from his past that he still carries around with him. His alcoholism is something Blaine even willingly acknowledges. When the film's antagonist, Nazi militant Major Strasser, asks Blaine what his nationality is during their first meeting, Blaine humorously replies, "I'm a drunkard."

One of the best things though about Rick Blaine's character is that as the film progresses, we watch him do his best to overcome the cynical side of his personality, and help others when they need it. He does this multiple times in the film, and the best part is, he truly does them out of the kindness of his heart. He doesn't ever have to stick his neck out for anybody - he does it because he knows deep down, it's the right thing to do. This becomes apparent in the beginning of the third act, when he helps a Bulgarian refugee couple escape to America by helping them win enough money at his own casino. The woman walks up to Blaine (while he's drinking alone at a small table in his club, of course), and informs him of their situation. They're broke, they need to make it to America for safety, and their only hope is to win some money at Blaine's casino to buy visas to do so (aside from the possibility of the woman herself providing men who aren't her husband sexual favors, something that would obviously strain the newlywed couple's relationship). Blaine first instinctually tells her to proverbially fuck off, before thinking to himself would could happen to the couple if they're forced to go back to Bulgaria, or what would happen to the newlyweds' relationship if the woman were to perform sexual favors in exchange for visas for her and her husband. Blaine then stands up and walks over to the roulette table at which the woman's husband is gambling (and badly losing). He tells the man right in front of the dealer to bet on 22, then looks at the roulette dealer. Magically (or perhaps not so much), the roulette lands on 22. Blaine tells the man to keep his chips on 22, and miraculously (or perhaps not so much), a 22 is rolled for the second time in a row. Blaine then tells the couple to cash in their chips, go to America and never come back. He didn't have to help this couple. He didn't have to risk his own neck to help a couple of refugees skirt a (perhaps immoral) law they broke and perhaps a severe punishment in an authoritarian country. And he didn't have to sacrifice the profits at his own casino and risk all his patrons noticing that his dealers were able to rig their games if they wanted to. But Rick Blaine did it anyway, and he did it because this cynical, middle-aged man, deep down, has a heart of gold. I won't spoil the ending of the movie, but this act of kindness serves as foreshadowing for a much bigger, selfless sacrifice Blaine makes at the end of the third act.

I really just can't even fully express how amazing this character is in Casablanca. It's something one really needs to experience for his/herself to appreciate. We can all learn something from Rick Blaine. This guy is so relatable and so good-hearted despite all the pain he's suffered, that saying he might the single-most likable character in all of cinema might not actually be an exaggeration. Rich Blaine is a kind-hearted, loving man who unfortunately happened to be shrouded in cynicism, but inspires us to be better ourselves - inspires us to be heroes in our own lives, despite the adversity, suffering, and struggle we may be experiencing ourselves, from our own pain and cynicism.