Sometimes in life, we recognize the precise time when our life changed. Something happened. Maybe it was a phone call or a random conversation. It could be a letter or something we read in a book. It wasn’t necessarily an important moment, but something clicked and it becomes the turning point for us. A decision gets made, sometimes a decision we had no idea was lurking in our mind.
An epiphany isn’t something that happens to us. It is when we happen. The moment when we take charge, change something that will sometimes alter our future, maybe permanently.
In the movie “Casablanca” (which I hope everyone has seen at least twice), this was the epiphany when Rick (Humphrey Bogart) decides to stop standing by and join the fight. I can’t think of any better version of an epiphany than this.
When Rick nods to his orchestra to play “The Marseillaise,” he moves into the fight. It’s not his first battle, but this time he’ll be in it until the end.
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Categories: Anecdote, Movie Review, Movies, old movies
SERENDIPITY: SEEKING INTELLIGENT LIFE ON EARTH 
Oh Marilyn, I knew you were special. This is my all time favorite movie. The two scenes are true epiphanies. Victor Laslo in The Marcellais scene showed why he was a leader. The final scene was written late, but the two writers came up with the ending based on “gather up the usual suspects.” Someone had to die (Major Strasser) and someone had to cause it, so Rick could not get on the plane. From that evolution came one of the best final sequences ever in a movie. Keith
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We saw the movie in the movies when Turner Classics ran it. It was really a LOT better on the big screen, even though it’s great any time you see it, anywhere.
There are a lot of pivotal moments in it too. Most of the actors and actresses in it actually WERE refugees — and the war was far from over at that point.
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Marilyn, thanks. I read that, too. There is a reason why this movie lands six quotes on the Top 100 list. Keith
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Yes, absolutely – and great observation re Casablanca too, which of course I have seen several times (three at a guess). Not my favourite Bogart but anything with him in gets my vote!
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What to me is most noteworthy, other than the great dialogue — often written at the last minute so the performers only got the script literally minutes before they had to perform it — is how this was for so many characters a pivotal time. AND most of the actors were actual refugees. Their tears were real.
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I never knew they were actual refugees – I’ll see the film in a new light now.
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There’s a very interesting and complicated back story to the movie. I think they have a lot of it on Wikipedia — and a lot of books about it too.
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I love your definition of an epiphany, it’s spot on. it happens when we happen.
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It’s that moment when something wakes us up and we stop being passive and start being an active person in the world.
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I don’t remember if I’ve watched this movie or not! Old age creeping in. 😂
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If you haven’t, try to see it. Because it is a very memorable movie and ALWAYS worth seeing again. Remember that it was written when the war was still very much in progress and before the allied landing in Normandy.
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Oh I see. Will try to find it.
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I’m pretty sure you won’t have any trouble finding it. It may be one of the world’s most popular (and famous) movies.
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That’s for sure.
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Thank you brother for giving me such a precious gift. I love you with all my heart. May God bless you forever and always.
On Sun, Mar 5, 2023 at 11:10 PM SERENDIPITY: SEEKING INTELLIGENT LIFE
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Thank you for watching. I always thought this was the moment in the movie, the true pivoting moment. And almost all the people in that scene really WERE refugees.
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