In my long tradition of being consumed by obscure subjects, my fascination has recently zeroed in on national anthems. Listening to the songs themselves is quite pleasurable, especially given my fondness for choruses, but they grow much more powerful when a crowd of patriots are there to sing along.

My obsession may have been sparked by the film “Invictus.” The post-apartheid South African Rugby team had spent most of the film merely mouthing the words to their new national anthem until the world cup when the captain, played by an accent donning Matt Damon, passes out the lyrics for the team to memorize. They embrace a new national identity at the end of the film and sing their hearts out in a swelling of pride and Hollywood romanticism. The contemporary version of South Africa’s anthem is a very beautiful song, made up of multiple languages, the lyrics gathered from several different songs. And to see actual footage of it performed in front of real citizens, reveals pride indeed.

Similarly, the Star Spangled Banner is depicted as bringing people together in multiple films, but these scenes are meant to hold your attention amid the chaos of the plot. Immensely proud of their anthem, and the high degree of difficulty needed to sing it, American’s stop everything they are doing to listen, sing along, and hold their hands to their hearts in a pause preceding or proceeding the crazy happenings about them. Sometimes this is for comedic effect, as in “Christmas Vacation’s” rocketing Santa scene, or the purpose is to instill a calm before the storm as portrayed in “Dark Knight Rises” just before a football field collapses.

This ominous use is most often how the Russian national anthem shows up in American films. Still recovering from Cold War era films where the Soviet Union was a very common enemy, movies still use the “cut to Russia” transitions that are heralded by the Soviet era and later anthem. It is strange that the proud theme of one country could invoke a sense of danger and auster alienness for those in another. In “Rocky IV,” the two fighters size each other up, in “The Hunt for Red October” the singing introduces the beginning of a delicate cat and mouse game, and in many a spy movie, the chorus warns the undercover hero to be cautious in enemy territory. Each anthem has been a very powerful symbol for a country not to be taken lightly.

But perhaps the most powerful and memorable use of a national anthem I have seen, was in “Casa Blanca.” While Lazlo tries to make a deal with Rick for the papers of transit, they overhear German singing. As the Nazi officers crowd around a piano the entire bar of refugees and French countrymen stare at these would-be conquerors who, by this point in time, have attempted to stomp out and displace entire cultures. Lazlo walks over and tells the band to play “La Marseillaise.” With a nod from Rick, the band plays and all gradually join in until the officers are drowned out. They strain to keep singing under the weight of emotion, with tears in their eyes. That is the power of a song, the strength of a people’s identity. And the anthem becomes a rallying cry calling on people to defend their very way of life.