These speculations are interesting. In my opinion, he began to change when Ilsa said she wished she didn't love him (Rick) so much. Later at the airport, when he tells her to leave without him, he speaks the truth when he says that if she doesn't leave, she will resent him for it. He began to realize that truth when she said she regretted her love. It was an undeniable truth coming from a defeated woman. It was also the greatest gift she could give him--total surrender to him, to their love. It re-validated all that had been taken from him by her (supposed) betrayal in Paris.
With his regained love, he begins to see her again through the eyes of a lover. As someone who cares more for her than for himself. This forces him to see things through her eyes, which makes him see the larger issues that are important to her. And he regains his ability to move beyond his perpetual suffering and see higher motives than "mere" survival.
As for the Bulgarian girl, she served as a symbol for all the people Rick had seen become victims, although he really hadn't "seen" them. One of the terrible truths about war is that it forces people to make compromises of conscience. She was a victim who gave him the opportunity to spit in the eye of the corrupt and depraved officials that ruled Casablanca, and who he knew would someday be his demise. When he later realized that Ilsa was also one of those victims, the Bulgarian woman was the touchstone against which he compared Ilsa's situation.
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aciolino
7 years ago
Okay, my two cents:
I don't think Rick "changes" at all. He is the same person all along. However, his seeming "inaction," is just a strategy. He is waiting for the right moment to make his move to the right side. That came when Victor Lazlo entered the bar. There was no way he was going to let him be taken by the Germans. And after that, it's done. He's committed.
My two cents.
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