Here’s my full review of “All Quiet on the Western Front.”
War is hell. As with most war movies, including “1917” and “Saving Private Ryan,” this film is about the insanity—and inanity—of armed conflict, which chews up and spits out both the innocent and the warfighter with equal, casual cruelty. The randomness of it all, the “rah rah” chest thumping of the politicians that will never venture anywhere near the front lines, the heartbreaking waste of human life are portrayed beautifully in this film, based on the 1929 book by Erich Remarque.
The best parts of the war are those simple moments between the falling shells and ricocheting bullets: reading heartfelt letters from home. One man meets a female refugee and she give him her scarf and the men of the company pass it around to smell it—it sounds gross but it’s cruel in its hopefulness and innocence. All these men want to do—and all of the soldiers are men, fodder for the war—is return home and make a home and family. It’s a dream that they all share but few will see come true.
Of course, the hopeful scenes are far outnumbered by the somber ones: massive graves full of the dead, mangled bodies in the mud, gas attacks. Dead bodies hang from the trees, and our soldiers find a room of 60 young soldiers, gassed to death. They run into machine gun fire and collect a seemingly endless number of dog tags to be sent to some distant bureaucrat for counting and to notify the next of kin. It makes me think about what’s happening in Ukraine right now and I wonder if we’ll ever learn.
Some of the juxtapositions are perfect, especially the cutting between soldiers fighting hand-to-hand in the mud while the politicians and career soldiers enjoy fine meals and wine in quiet manors far from the front lines. Doctors work to save the injured, and a friend of our main character tries to surrender to soldiers with flamethrowers to no avail.
Much of the cinematography was simply sublime, reminding me of “1917” but lacking that film’s rushing sense of dread created by “single shot” aspect of the film, which through trickery and technology made it appear as if the entire film consisted of one continuous shot. In the end, war is hell, and the victors in their cruel, retaliatory punishment, continue the cycle and ensure another war soon in the future.
Earlier movies based on this story were made in 1930 and 1979, with the later version starring Richard Thomas, pre-”Bilbo” Ian Holm, and Ernest Borgnine. The summary for that film tells you everything you need to know about the story: “A young soldier faces profound disillusionment in the soul-destroying horror or World War I.“ I might have added something about the warrenlike trenches, half filled with rain and blood and bodies, but maybe they didn’t want to scare off their entire audience.
That being said, I’ve seen all of this before. War is cruel, and anyone who doesn’t believe that hasn’t ever spoken to a veteran or walked through a military graveyard. But this film really brings it home. Should be mandatory viewing for anyone enamored with war. I think the film would have been more affective if it were 30 minutes shorter, but other than that, I had few complaints. 8 out of 10.
