Paths of Glory

Set in a French army during 1916, the film follows a doomed assault that top brass insist upon despite mounting casualties. A command decision unravels amid artillery misfires, a costly failure, and a scramble to cover the missteps at higher levels. Three soldiers are hauled before a court martial charged with cowardice and desertion, chosen as convenient scapegoats for the operation's collapse under mounting pressure from higher ups. Colonel Dax, a humane and fearless officer, volunteers to defend them, arguing that responsibility begins at the top and cannot be shifted onto enlisted men. The courtroom becomes a stage for a fierce clash over duty, justice, and the meaning of courage, while the machinery of war presses on outside the doors. The stakes feel personal and grim.

Directed by Stanley Kubrick and released in 1957, Paths of Glory adapts Humphrey Cobb's grim novel with a screenplay by Kubrick, Willingham, and Thompson, converting a searing anti war tale into a tightly wound courtroom drama and sharp social critique.

The movie had a budget of 935,000 and earned roughly 1.2 million at the worldwide box office. The reception was strong among critics despite modest domestic returns and it helped establish Kubrick as a daring voice in American cinema today.

Its stark black and white visuals, clinical pacing, and blunt anti war stance left a lasting imprint on cinema. The courtroom sequences became a model for dramatizing institutional hypocrisy, and its influence extends to later war and courtroom dramas while shaping how audiences view military authority in classrooms worldwide today.

Critics praised the film for its moral ambiguity and spare, unsentimental tone. It foregrounds the futility of blind obedience, the fragility of justice under hierarchy, and the price of leadership mistakes echoed in a soldier's fate. The result is a restrained, morally complex work that continues to challenge audiences worldwide.