Casa Blanca is an amazingly put together film directed to perfection. The film Casa Blanca directed by Michael Curtiz is a story of heroism that depicts an individual's ability to sacrifice his deepest passion to achieve a better cause for humanity. Michael Curtiz uses narrative structure, staging, cinematography, acting style, and sound to show how the main character becomes a hero by sacrificing his love for a woman. Casa Blanca, released in 1942, is a romantic drama that takes place during World War II in the Moroccan city of Casablanca. The protagonist, Rick Blaine, is an American who chooses virtue over love. Blaine owns a nightclub in Casablanca that attracts a diverse group of people. His former lover, Ilsa, enters the film with her husband on a night that causes a stir. Ilsa and her husband are trying to get to America because her husband escaped from a Nazi concentration camp. Rick must decide whether to help the couple escape or escape with Ilsa. The narrative structure of Casa Blanca is very clear and conforms to the basic principles of classic Hollywood narrative structure. Narrative structure includes plot order, duration, story duration, plot duration, screen duration, exposition, repetition, and scope. In the opening scene the setting is bright, with a voiceover and a world map to establish the exact location where the film takes place. This provides a brief background on the character, setting, and basic conflict. The voiceover explains how the Nazis were conquering Europe, basic facts about World War II, and political refugees fleeing Hitler. This type of narration allows the audience to easily follow the film. In other words, the audience doesn't need to think to find... halfway down the page... "Yes, I'm ready." When Ilsa says this, she is accepting the terms of Rick's decision to let her go. As the couple heads towards the plane we hear "As Time Goes By" in the background which adds to the dramatic effect of Ilsa's departure. In conclusion, Rick's love for Ilsa is not as important as supporting Ilsa's husband who is a great man fighting for a great cause. By helping her husband, she helps future generations avoid the pain and suffering that her husband experienced while living in the concentration camp. Rick states, “That day in Paris, the Germans wore gray and we wore blue.” He's saying that he sacrificed his feelings to be a better human being in a completely violence-crazed world. Michael Curtiz excellently portrays Rick as a hero, showing his ultimate sacrifice through sound, acting, cinematography, staging and narrative structure..