“And our bodies are earth.
And our thoughts are clay. And we sleep and eat with death.”
A Variety article characterized Lewis
Milestone’s All Quiet on the Western
Front as a film that should be mass-produced and reprinted in every
language until the concept of war ceased to exist in the world. Which is a
pretty big declaration for a film made prior to most of the past century’s most
terrible wars. But at the same time, the explicitness of its anti-war message
and effectiveness at conveying that message make it even more relevant today
because of those many terrible wars that have illustrated how important this
film is.
The
film based on Erich Maria Remarque’s novel is about a bunch of eager young men
in Germany at the outset of the First World War. They enlist in the prospect of
glory and heroism only to be exposed to the reality and terrors of the war.
Primarily the story follows Paul Baumer (Lew Ayres) and his personal
experiences and tribulations as he endures harsh conditions, friends and
companions dying around him, and losing hope and understanding in the world.
And so the film follows the narrative of the war which is that of excitement
and hope followed by mass slaughter and trauma.
One
thing that strikes me instantly in All
Quiet on the Western Front is that it sticks to the source material’s
German leads. It would have been easy and typical for Hollywood back then to
transition the story into an American setting with American heroes. And while
these Germans are very Americanized it’s still a pleasant surprise that they
were bold enough to humanize the enemy only twelve years after the war ended.
It shows audiences that these feelings about the war and what it did to people
was universal regardless of which side you were on. And while if this film had
been made a few years later, I doubt the Germans would have been portrayed so
sympathetically (what with you know, Hitler being around), it still strikes me
as very open-minded and honest for its time. Another thing to really appreciate
about this film is that it was made before the Hays Production Code took effect
allowing the violence of war to be portrayed with a much better sense of
realism and dreariness. It’s one of the last times before the 1960s that this
level of gritty imagery of war is seen. The films feels legitimate when we see
people losing limbs, getting injuries, blood appearing with the bodies on the
battlefields and helps the viewer experience the horrors as the characters do.
The
film really employs the ideology and honesty about the war in a number of
interesting scenes. One of my favourites is when the group are gathered around
discussing why they’re fighting in a half-serious manner. It’s hard to believe
those kind of conversations didn’t take place for the average tommies many unaware
of the nature of the war’s beginnings, or alternatively in full understanding
of how ridiculous it was. The older mentor figure of their group Kat (Louis
Wolheim, there are a lot of Louis’ in this film!) ends it by giving a
comparatively sound alternative to letting millions die over a dumb conflict.
The price of war gets plenty of exposure,, no better than in the
church-hospital scene where Paul’s trying to comfort a dying man while a friend
tries to get his good boots them being such a rare commodity. I feel like for
the first time, people who didn’t experience the war were getting an idea of
how horrific it was in these scenes, and with a notable death scene later on
even more so. There’s a scene where their training instructor arrives at the
front and finds the respect to rank has broken down in the anarchy of the
trenches, showing the meaningless of the chain of command when all boils down. At
one point Paul winds up abandoned in No Man’s Land with an enemy French soldier
who he tries to keep alive despite having shot him in the first place. Ayres
really sells the lamentation and it’s so effective that similar scenes have
been enacted in many war films since. They’re the kind of scenes beyond the
comprehension of Professor Kantorek blissfully unaware of the true nature of
war but endlessly promoting it for its glory and majesty. After the almost
satiric but sadly ironic scene at the beginning, we eventually get to a point
where Paul confronts him and it’s just awesome as he does all to discredit him
and discourage the students from believing his bullshit. It’s slightly preachy
but by this point we’ve seen enough to be firmly on his side. And all of these
in addition to the final couple scenes are just beautiful.
Speaking
of beauty, the shots in this film are wonderful. They’re so great and
realistic, I wonder if they fooled me by inserting actual footage from the war.
But we still see our characters in some of these shots so it’s still really
impressive. And for a film made in 1930 it’s all the more amazing. This was one
of the earliest talkies so the music and dialogue synching is a little
noticeably off but the editing and cinematography which looks better than a lot
of films today more than make up for that. And while the film can be accused of
being driven by its message, it has a really decent story backing it up,
well-written and complete with great characters. There are admittedly a number
of nameless figures but the three or four characters you get know in their
misery grow on you. Kat in particular, his cynicism and insights as well as
intelligence and guidance make him immediately likable. And being a war film
it’s very important to create likable relatable characters for the audience to
latch onto but also like in any war film be careful about getting attached.
Though that is actually an important part of the experience.
All Quiet on the Western Front is
certainly one of the greatest war films ever made if not the best. It’s
attention to capturing the reality of war in vivid detail creates one of the
most profoundly effective anti-war messages ever. It turned Lew Ayres into
conscientious objector during the Second World War which was almost Hollywood
suicide at the time. And for him to be pushed to do that based on a film is
incredibly telling of the power of the medium. What it accomplished for its
time is a marvel and is as relevant today as it ever was. Which is unfortunate.
This is one of those films that really has the power to change the world and
that Variety article hoped it would.
The fact that we’ve had many terrible wars since this film shows we may not
have been listening. And whether it has the power to end such an awful thing or
not, it wouldn’t hurt to watch All Quiet
on the Western Front every so often as a reminder, a testament to the
millions of lost souls, and a warning.
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