Paths Of Glory, 1957 Staney Kubrick

Paths Of Glory, 1957 Staney Kubrick

Film Langauge;
The language in paths of glory is multi lingual, including speech in English, French and German, although this gives the viewer a few headaches trying to work out what the German army is planning, it adds to the realism of the film and without it the film could also grow confusing trying to work out who was actually English. The old fashioned text used also gives it that bit more of a rustic centruain feeling so close to the war.

Mis En Scene;
There are vast amounts of props used in this film and opening sequence,from the hundreds and thousands of firearms to all the officers diffrent badges right down to the nitty and gritty props like the sandbags used to re-build the trenches. This is important as it alows us to diferinate the diffrent armys by there uniforms or firearms. The setting is fantastic and looks as realistic as can be without actually re-shooting a war, this makes the viewer feel the real effects and at least try and get a glimpse of what the soilders went through.

Special Effects;
As the film was made quite some time ago and with a rather petit budget the film lacks a few blockbuster special effects that would add moe drama and likeness to it. Without these the fighting scenes dont seem as deadly and horrfying as the war films you can see now a days. But the effects that are used make a real diffrence and are still enough for you to wish you were never there. When a shell implodes, we see the real damage they casue as we pan left to see a toy tank and army truck blown to shreds. Ouch!

Sound;
The non-diagetic sound plys a big role in the film becuase if we take that away the film is left bare. The shell explosions are loud and create a vast impact as we jump in our seats due to scare fact it brings to the screen. In comparion to the general gunfire and explosions the speaking from the actors if rather quite but this is actually very clever becuase you cat imagine hearing everything thast being said in a warzone. So the director orders the actors to shout louder to get there point across just like they ould have done in real time.Bombs are not the only non-diagetic sound we hear, we have; screams of agnoy from dying soilders,heavy gun and artillery fire and the sound of water splashing as wounded and batterd soilders try to evade the onslaught falling into craters drownded in water. at the very beginning we also get the beat of the drums so the audeince know the war is on.The attention to detail is fantastic.