The film of Casablanca has had major audience appeal since the time it was first released, and indeed it was something of a surprise hit when it first came to the screen. The appeal in 1942 was likely to be somewhat different than the appeal of the film today given that the societal concerns of the time were different, and the film does indeed reflect many of these concerns in its plot, the interactions of its characters, and the society it depicts. Casablanca is very much a document of its age and reflects much of the history of the late 1930s leading to the war that was then waging in 1942.
The society depicted in the film is exotic not only because of its setting in Casablanca in North Africa but also because of the mixture of nationalities brought together in an artificial manner in this time and place. This is artificial because it is a function of war and not because these different groups have chosen to live together. The region is ostensibly under French control at the time of the film, though the real control rests with the Germans who are poised to take over as much of this part of the world as they can and who have the military might to back up their demands. The French are in a delicate position, for while they may seem to be in charge, there is doubt about this given that there were then two French governments, one controlled by the Germans at Vichy, the other subjugated by a German invasion. Some of this background is shown in the story of Rick and Lisa when they were in Paris at the time of the arrival of the German troops, and the fall of Paris signals a change both for the lovers and for France, but also for the war effort.
Rick is an expatriate American, but he is the one American in the film and so should be seen as a representative of his country in some ways. He actually represents the America of the 1930s, an America trying to remain neutral and torn between the belief that remaining neutral would ...