Like so many people raised with pervasive media and technology, a part of my brain held a belief that prior to the Vietnam War, people really wanted to go off and fight wars. There was glory in it, honour. Who wouldn’t want the opportunity to fight (and die?) for their country? To defend all it represented, all of those core values and beliefs that everyone in your society held true. Stand tall and reduce the net evil in the world. Clearly that belief in the corner of my brain is not valid. This film contrasts the excitement behind a war machine. So, maybe the “raised with pervasive media and technology” thing just helps people hear about the events of the day faster. It doesn’t change the opinions or the way people see those events. Maybe it’s the nature of youth, the nature of innocence, to think the flower children were the definitive voice opposing war. Maybe they were just the definitive voice on this pervasive media.
Youth.
I love the journey undertaken in All Quiet on the Western Front. The propaganda machine (those who are not directly in harm’s way of the war) sees beauty in the war. Those young minds encouraged to enlist are fighting for good. They will be victorious. They will be heroes. They are loved by their country. Emboldened by these messages, a group of classmates in this film slowly discover the cold brutality of the war at first. Boot camp begins to ruin their social lives, an inconvenience, while those in charge go out drinking, basking in their rank and position. This contrast between privilege and the soldiers becomes stark and called out throughout the film in a masterful progression that builds from ignorance to frustration to an almost numbness. War in the trenches is not how it looks from afar, “for death is not an adventure to those who stand face to face with it”
It’s definitely an anti-war film, and I appreciate that it’s told from a German soldier’s perspective. That said, it really doesn’t seem to matter who is fighting who, or what any of the battles gain or lose. They are a blur of back and forth charges, machine guns endlessly panning the horizon as more and more soldiers just appear in their rain of bullets. Ultimately, as is discussed by the soldiers, “That’s what we are here for… Now don’t you lose any more sleep over this business.”
My favorite conversation from the film (Thanks Wikiquote!):
Tjaden: Me and the Kaiser felt just alike about this war. We didn’t neither of us want any war, so I’m going home. He’s there already.
Soldier #1: Somebody must have wanted it. Maybe it was the English. No, I don’t want to shoot any Englishman. I never saw one ’til I came up here. And I suppose most of them never saw a German ’til they came up here. No, I’m sure they weren’t asked about it.
Soldier #2: Well, it must be doing somebody some good.
Tjaden: Not me and the Kaiser.
Soldier #1: I think maybe the Kaiser wanted a war.
Tjaden: You leave us out of this.
Katczinsky: I don’t see that. The Kaiser’s got everything he needs.
Soldier #1: Well, he never had a war before. Every full-grown Emperor needs one war to make him famous. Why, that’s history.
Paul: Yeah, Generals too. They need war.
Soldier #3: And manufacturers. They get rich.
Soldier #1: Nobody wants it in particular. And then all at once, here it is. We didn’t want it. The English didn’t want it. And here we are fighting.
It’s a long watch, but it’s a good one. Worth it.
Did I like All Quiet on the Western Front? Yes
Would I watch it again? Yes, I’d revisit this again.
Would I recommend it to others? Definitely.
Journey to the Centre of the Classic Film Vault 