// War Literature

Paths of Glory turned out to be a surprisingly captivating movie. Based on what we have seen so far in class, the two themes that repeatedly came to my mind are corruption and the injustice of the ranking system, although I do not know if the latter can be classified as a theme per say. When we think of the military, we imagine strict rules and guidelines to enforce discipline. While discipline is present here, it is being enforced for selfish reasons. This movie is all about power, where the French military officers do not care if they obtain it by hook or by crook.

When we think of “Paths of Glory” as a term, we think of a warrior giving their all to be glorified, to be memorable, and to leave a legacy. When we watch “Paths of Glory” and look at the path General Mireau chooses, we realize how power and corruption can cost the lives of innocent soldiers. I repeatedly mention corruption because the desire to have power corrupts Mireau, since he was willingly to risk the lives of his soldiers for a promotion, while knowing that the desire to take over the “Ant Hill” was a lost cause from the start. Once he sets out on this path, he keeps on getting more corrupted, in the end only caring about his promotion and reputation. In order to fix his mistake of ordering the attack, he keeps making more and more mistakes. In the end, he does not care about how many soldiers die, since he was willing to kill them himself by ordering the gunfire on them, as long as it means that his chances of a promotion are firm.

The biggest example of an under layer of corruption in the military is most definitely the court trial scene. In this scene, even the best of the military lawyers is unable to defend the soldiers because he is not given a chance to. None of the accused are given a chance to speak, not even the lawyer, which shows the layer of corruption that coats the just court. All that the ranking officers wanted was to get the matter done and over with, without any blame coming on their persons, which was why the defendant was not given any opportunity to present his case. The past of these soldiers is completely neglected, along with the fact that every soldier who was not dead had retreated, not just a handful. While it is possible that such cases do occur in real life, I just wonder how everyone involved lives with their conscience afterward.

This movie shows that where authority of an officer over his regiment will keep the soldiers together, it can also suppress them. One such example is of Lieutenant Roget, who willingly puts the life of Corporal Paris on the line in order to keep his cowardice hidden. Corporal Paris could not do much, since he knew that Roget’s word would be considered above his. At every turn, all of the commanding officers of the military try to get away with stuff using their higher ranking, whether by threatening them or suppressing them by not giving them an opportunity to even defend themselves. Corruption exists everywhere, and this film shows that it exists in even the most strictest of institution: the military.