Reel Look: 'All Quiet on the Western Front'

Rating: 8/10 (8 January 2015)

"You still think it's beautiful to die for your country. The first bombardment taught us better. When it comes to dying for country, it's better not to die at all." Indeed a breakthrough in American historical archives, 'All Quiet On The Western Front' (1930) was the first anti-war film of the sound era, faithfully based upon the timeless, best-selling 1929 novel by Erich Maria Remarque (who also had experienced the war first-hand as a young German soldier). The actual film itself, shot in grainy black and white, truly captures the essence of the time during World War I in the year of 1914, and what the characters are going to be sucked into nonetheless. As the soon-to-be German soldiers are sitting in a classroom being lectured on how great is to die for the country is suddenly drowned out by music being played outside bypassing troops marching their way through the town. The war was indeed on, and the boys sitting in the classroom soon come to the fatal realization that they would very soon be unready become real men who, too, would end up dying for their own country. Was there no other option but to enlist, with the naive boys keeping their fears hidden deep within? Let's take a look.
The film stars wonderful actors as such who also become central characters. Lew Ayres portrays Paul Baumer, the lead character of a group of seven unknowing boys who are each young, impressionable and are recruited and trained to fight for the glory of their blessed homeland. Ayres was only twenty-one years old when he played Paul in a star-making role. His other friends among the seven were Kropp, Leer and Kemmerick. Also, a shy postman named Himmelstoss, played by John Wray, eventually becomes Sergeant Himmelstoss to the boys when he also enlists. His reputation while in uniform is anything but shy as he angrily barks out orders to his new recruits during training.
In discussing the history portrayed, it tells the viewer that it was a time near the beginning of twentieth-century Germany where the young men were unready stripped of their innocence to be molded into the ways of becoming a real man because World War I was indeed on. Neither boy knew from another about what truly was about to unfold in the days and hours to come. All they knew were from what they were taught about how gloriously they must defend their fatherland and how wonderful and gallant it was to die for the certain cause. They boys did not know what they were headed into. The future looked bleak and gray; a haunting shadow that hovered over them wherever they seemed to go. They knew that they had to stay together and fight with all they had, even to the death.
In prevailing attitudes/prejudices, one example would be when Sergeant Himmelstoss is training the new recruits and is making them track through thick, gloppy mud and also marching them for hours in the heat of the day. His attitude towards his regiment was so horrible and demanding that the boys were fed up with it all and decided to pull a prank on the sergeant at night when he would come back to base in a drunken stupor. They made him trip over a long piece of wire and then surround him, put a sack over his head and began kicking him repeatedly in the rear while laughing triumphantly.
In describing historical accuracy, it probably comes as close as to how the soldiers were dressed in the appropriate uniforms of the time, the weapons that were used, and to where the heat of the battle of World War I is on full throttle. The young recruits are reduced to standing in damp, muddy trenches encompassed by other soldiers as missiles whistle their deadly note through the air and as bullets rampaging from machine guns portray rhythmic timing with the cries of death. The world the boys had once known was now leveled down to a barren wasteland infested with horrible images and darkened skies choked in the thick smog of war. Some parts were saddening, including one memorable scene where Paul visits his wounded, dying friend Kemmerick lying in pain in the dying room in the makeshift crowded hospital in a French cathedral. Only nineteen years old, he is afraid of what is going to happen to him. He complains to Paul that there are robbers amidst the place, saying that they have stolen his watch. He even wonders about the pain in every toe on his right foot, which, unknowingly to him, has been amputated. When he discovers that not just his foot but his whole leg is gone, he breaks down and utters a startled cry that fills the place, emanating his sorrow and loss. Shortly after this, he dies. Other scenes were downright gruesome, as soldiers are running across the field being blown to bits. Even in one graphic scene evoking surprise and disgust was of a soldier clinging on to a fence. An explosion followed, swallowing him in fire and smoke. When the dust had settled, all that remained of him were his bloodied hands still gripping the meshes of the fence. There is a scene at the end where Paul reaches out his hand for a butterfly on the field and is immediately shot. This portrays to the viewer that true innocence is stripped clean amidst the terrors of war.
This spectacular film was a great experience to reflect upon and to thoroughly enjoy. Made on a large-scale budget of only $1.25 million and with an employment of over two-thousand extras, this film went on to win four Academy Awards nominations. A mastery war film from a mastery filmmaker, and a true milestone for the eponymous director!