All Quiet on the Western Front

All Quiet on the Western Front is a German anti-war epic taking place during World War I. The story revolves around a fresh-out-of-the-academy young graduate who is passionately excited to serve his country and how his life plus worldview changes the moment he’s tossed into an ongoing war between Germany and France.

Through a riveting opening, a young soldier named Heinrich (Jakob Schmidt) is seen battling to his best in a chaotic war. Unfortunately, he doesn’t survive. So what do they do to the belongings of dead soldiers like him? Their uniforms and boots are ripped off and off it goes for a recycle. From there, our protagonist Paul (Felix Kammerer) receives Heinrich’s uniform unbeknownst to him and off he is sent to war with his guns and everything. Reality hits him and his friends very fast, leading to the demise of a close buddy in a bombed bunker collapse. Now this is where the film’s structure becomes odd at least for a while when the ‘18 Months Later’ card slides in. Understandably, this is the entry point into the new world post Plot Point I for the protagonist, but the reason why it seemed odd was because it appeared like a new story beginning. We are shown how accustomed Paul and his cohorts have become of the war. They steal a goose from a French farm, they have a good time enjoying that stolen goose turned into dinner and they experience an unlikely encounter with a flock of girls. We are also introduced to several new characters, namely Kat (Albrecht Schuch) and Mathias (Daniel Brühl). The handkerchief pass-around to display the relationship between these boys is a nice touch, as well as the letter that reveals Kat’s demised son. All these are necessary setups for what’s to come next, but they are by far the lowest points of the entire movie, both in terms of plot troughs and how engaging it actually is. Worry not, as once the delegation negotiation begins prior to the midpoint where the boys are sent out to war again, All Quiet on the Western Front transforms into a non-stop fantastic ride charging through the end of the runtime!

I’ve seen many war films over the years and most filmmakers try their level best to show us something new that we haven’t seen before. In this film, trhe army tanks that run over the trenches, soldiers infiltrating enemy’s trenches and grabbing meal from their kitchen plus the usage of flamethrower by the French soldiers are some of the new additions to the library of great things in a war film that I haven’t really witness before. Some of the stunts like the actual explosion that sends Paul flying away, Paul punching an enemy’s face as we see the face gradually deteriorates in a bloody broken mess and the French soldier whom Paul suffocates first but tries to save later are easily the best of the best technical marvel!

When the war is finally announced over, it’s over with a great cost. Save Kat, Paul loses all of his friends including Tjaden (Edin Hasanovic) who stabs himself with a fork that he is supposed to eat a hot potato soup with. Just when Paul and Kat discuss how excited they are to go home, their usual goose theft ends up being a real tempt of fate, killing Kat in the aftermath. And just when you think the misfortune ends, Paul and his troop is sent out to war again for a final bag of victory before the armistice takes effect at 11AM. With only 15 minutes left to survive, just when Paul is about to make it through, he gets killed at the eleventh second of the eleventh hour prior to ceasefire. He walks out of the bunker like he ascends the steps to heaven and the film ends shortly. The progression of sadness is incredibly well-written!

The only real missed opportunity of the film in my opinion, would be its resolution. The makers could have easily taken the liberty of fictionalizing it a bit by making the war go on due to the Germans breaking the treaty, and in that way, they could have made Paul’s uniform go through a recycle just like Heinrich’s did before a final shot of his cleaned uniform placed at the storage facility, waiting to be delivered to another fresh soldier to be sent out to war next. I’m sure the makers would have thought about this exact same idea, but they may have chosen not to do it as they would have liked it to stay true to what happened in the book the film is based on or the World War I itself. But in my opinion, albeit being a resolution most of us could see coming, this full circle resolution should have been done to punch in a more satisfying conclusion to the motion picture. This is crucial to do as the opportunity to execute a full circle resolution doesn’t come organically for every film, therefore when the opportunity presents itself willingly, it should be seized.

The traveling of inanimate objects in All Quiet on the Western Front is most certainly a highlight. Be it the name tags, uniform or the woman scarf, it’s the travel of these items that moves the story forward for the most parts. However, nothing is a bigger highlight than the outstandingly gorgeous camerawork! Almost every shot is a painting, especially when the filmmakers boast how picturesque they could capture the landscapes and nature. Be it the rainforest or foxes, there’s not a single non-human aspect of this film that isn’t well-captured! On the human side of things, whenever oil lamps and car headlights are involved in a shot during nighttime, the result you see onscreen is nothing short of what you would see in a storybook! Contrast between blue and orange are done explicitly well here! Makeup and prosthetics for the many mud and wounded faces, practical effects like the mortar-blasted half-body hanging atop a tree and the extensive production design work that went into bringing the World War I in front of us are sublime, sublime, sublime! On the flipside, the blaring horn score and its few variations seemed modern, in other words, out of place with the nature and time-scape of the film.