PATHS OF GLORY

Name: PATHS OF GLORY
Item: PATHS OF GLORY
Author: Review

"A Classic Anti-War Film"

Family Content: +1 Moderately questionable elements. (Discernment required for young children.)

Entertainment Quality:

	None	Light	Moderate	Heavy
Language
Violence
Sex
Nudity

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What You Need To Know:

PATHS OF GLORY is a moving period drama that showcases the hardships of war, as well as how some can become desensitized to the violence and death that surround them, while others maintain their beliefs. The lead actor Kirk Douglas gives an excellent performance, and the script is well-written. It follows an idealistic colonel ordered to lead his troops on a suicide mission by his power-hungry superiors. When the mission fails, three of the soldiers are sentenced to death for cowardice. The colonel fights to save them, as well as maintain his own moral code in the face of corruption.

PATHS OF GLORY features a mixed worldview. While Colonel Dax displays moral traits, like his impassioned defense of his troops, as well as his offer to sacrifice himself in his men’s place, his superiors Generals Broulard and Mireau have paganistic focuses on status and have little regard for human life. They also face no real consequences for their actions. There is also a storyline that follows a soldier who accidentally kills another and fabricates a report clearing him of any wrongdoing. There are a few scenes featuring a priest praying with the condemned men. There are dramatic action scenes with minimal violence, as well as alcohol and cigarette use throughout. MOVIEGUIDE® advises caution for younger viewers.

Content:

(BB, C, PaPa, L, VV, N, AAA, D, MM):

Dominant Worldview and Other Worldview Content/Elements:

Mixed worldview, featuring moral, pagan, and Christian elements. Colonel Dax is dedicated to his men and argues against the mission to take the Anthill, as he knows it is a suicide mission. When some of his soldiers are accused of cowardice and ordered to go in front of the firing squad, Dax even offers to sacrifice himself and die in his troops’ place. However, Generals Broulard and Mireau display pagan focus on maintaining and/or furthering their military status and show no regard for human life. There is one scene that features a priest praying with the men sentenced to death and he tells a self-professed not-religious soldier that God is always ready to hear our prayers. He also accompanies the men to the execution and prays for them before they are shot;

Foul Language:

One obscenity;

Violence:

Several scenes of action violence, involving gunfire, explosions, and other loud noises, as well as a scene that shows the three condemned soldiers being shot to death by the firing squad. Wounded soldiers are seen, but with minimal blood shown. A few dead bodies are shown on the battlefield, but no blood is seen;

Sex:

No sex;

Nudity:

One scene features brief upper male nudity as a character puts on shirt;

Alcohol Use:

Soldiers drink alcohol throughout the movie, one character is called a drunk by his fellow soldiers and frequently drinks to excess;

Smoking and/or Drug Use and Abuse:

Soldiers are shown smoking cigarettes in several scenes; and,

Miscellaneous Immorality:

One character, Roget, falsifies a report so that no one finds out he accidentally killed a fellow soldier and, when another soldier finds out and confronts him, Roget later chooses him to die in the firing squad to protect himself. Dax attempts to blackmail Broulard, telling him he will tell the world that Mireau ordered the artillery fire on their own troops if he doesn’t free the condemned men.

More Detail:

PATHS OF GLORY is a moving drama set during the events of WWI, following soldiers accused of cowardice after failing to achieve an impossible mission set out by their commanding officer.

In PATHS OF GLORY, French Major General Georges Broulard orders subordinate Brigadier General Paul Mireau to have troops take “the Anthill,” a heavily defended area that the Germans have conquered. Mireau tells him this is impossible, but after Broulard dangles a promotion, he agrees to have the soldiers mount the attack the next day.

Colonel Dax, a criminal defense lawyer in his civilian life, reluctantly leads the charge, knowing that they cannot take the Anthill. He leads the first wave, but they don’t make it to the German trenches, and the rest of the French troops refuse to leave their trenches, as they know it would lead to certain death.

Enraged, Mireau orders that French artillerymen open fire on the soldiers to force them out of the trenches and onto the battlefield. They refuse, and the attempted takeover of eht Anthill fails.

Mireau wants to court-martial 100 of the troops involved in the failed mission for cowardice, but Broulard suggests three soldiers be chosen from each company to represent their fellow men. Dax volunteers to defend them, but their trial is a farce, with no witnesses, no formal indictment, and a refusal from the court to admit any evidence that would support the soldiers’ acquittal.

PATHS OF GLORY has a mixed worldview, containing moral, Christian, and pagan elements. While Colonel Dax is committed to defending his men from accusations of cowardice and even volunteers to die in their place, characters like Mireau and Broulard do not value the lives of their troops and face no real consequences for their actions. They would do anything to maintain their high status in the military. There are a few scenes that feature a priest who prays with the condemned men. Alcohol and cigarettes appear throughout the movie, and there are many dramatic battle scenes with violence. MOVIEGUIDE® advises caution for younger viewers.