
Kubrick was intrigued by war and made many films on the subject.
Paths Of Glory is sometimes described as “anti-war”, but it’s hard to say that any Kubrick war films are explicitly anti.
Paths Of Glory highlights a true (ish) story from World War I. Having reached a stalemate on the front line, the generals order an attack that is doomed to failure. In the aftermath, when no progress has been made and lives have been lost, three soldiers are chosen to be executed as an incentive for the rest to, er, try harder in the future.
There’s more to the story, of course, but we just don’t want any spoilers.
Kirk Douglas plays Dax, who volunteers to defend the three men, even though he knows it is a lost cause.
Douglas is Douglas. There are some other familiar faces in the cast, and some memorable scenes. We always think that Kubrick would have loved a Steadicam as he took his camera through the trenches.