Milestone

Rating: Null/10 (17 August 2003)

When I was waiting in line at my local 7-11 the other day, I mentally made a list of the so-called "great war movies." Such prominent names as Apocalypse Now, Patton, and Blackhawk Down passed through my mind, but I couldn't decide. Many directors have tried war films, Wolfgang Petersen was phenomenal with Das Boot, but has fallen into a Hollywood money pit. Ridley Scott barely avoided the claws of Jerry Bruckheimer. Oliver Stone hasn't changed in 20 years, but he served before making his attempt, I will give him credit for that. Stanley Kubrick wants to understand, but his war films never excelled as to the purpose, Paths of Glory came closest compared to his narrative failure of Full Metal Jacket. Then I remembered Lewis Milestone...my first experience with Milestone's work came when I was 11 with Pork Chop Hill. That movie changed every way I look at war along with A Bridge Too Far.
Before Kubrick, Kurosawa, and even Hitchcock got off the ground, Milestone holds my honor as being the original cinematic genius. All Quiet on the Western Front is everything that Terrence Malick wanted to do in The Thin Red Line. Malick must not have seen this because he just tries elaborating on it. He failed because he doesn't understand the audience anymore than the topic.
AQWF presents an image of the novel that defines everything in a war movie. Many films like Platoon, Saving Private Ryan, and Windtalkers have tried to repeat the same message, none as successful.
"Rejoice o young man in thy youth." That phrase from the beginning of Platoon sums up the movie as the German boys leave school for enlistment. I find it interesting in the first few minutes how Milestone enters the thoughts of each student in all their delusions. That is genius.
Even stronger is how Milestone manipulates the camera during the war. The synchronizing of the machine guns to waves of Frenchmen getting riddled resembles the bunker shots of 'Private Ryan. Spielberg and Kaminiski obviously studied this many times before filming their epic. The camera is all about movement at war, perhaps to emphasize the fact that the soldiers can't go anywhere but die.
The subtle signs of power and intelligence on Milestone's part are sprinkled throughout, from the slowly dying Frenchman in the shell crater to the butterfly ending. This is a hallmark of filmmaking that will never be equaled. The camera, the ear, the cast, the editing...everything is perfect.
Overall, the greatest war movie ever made. Period. 5 out of 5 stars.