Isaacson: Casablanca

The political expediency theory, which was very important at the time of Casablanca's creation due to the USA's recent entrance into WWII, is best demonstrated in the film by Captain Renault's dramatic change of heart at the film's end. He shots and kills his German commanding officer, Major Strasser, to allow Victor and Ilsa to escape to America. This doesn't really make sense in the context of the film, Victor is Czech and going to America so he feels no nationalistic pride for him and he was just betrayed and placed at gunpoint by Rick, but it had to be done to please its audience who were feeling intensely nationalistic. Thus, the film comes to represent America's inevitable triumph over the Germans even with the odds placed squarely against them, something American audiences were hoping for in the still uncertain time of 1942.
The mise-en-scene of this final sequence is interesting and draws a distinct line between the good and evil characters. The dominant in most frames is either Rick or Renault, the two character's whose actions cause the events to unfold. The lighting key is seemingly ambient, but it is also focused to stress the light clothing that all of the "good" characters wear making them seem purer than the darkly dressed Renault and Strasser. The camera proxemic is normally personal or social, only becoming intimate during the talk between Rick and Ilsa. This, combined with the slightly downward angle of most scenes, make the audience feel like they are watching the action unfold from a more 3rd person perspective with the exception of the love triangle subplot which they should be emotionally invested in. Most frames are dense, having at least two or three characters in the frame at all times, which stresses the relationships between the characters. Most frames are also tightly framed, conveying the tension that the characters feel in this life or death situation. Finally, the character proxemics are used to convey ideological similarities and differences. For example, when Strasser arrives at the airport he stands near closer to Renault than Rick does, conveying their similar ideology, but as Strasser acts he move further away from Renault so that Rick is closer, conveying the shift that has occurred in Strasser at that moment.