Set presumably at or near the onset of World War I in a working class German town the opening scene introduces us to a very happy-go-lucky mailman who announces to the customers on his route that he is being drafted as a Sergeant in the German army. There is a resounding feeling of patriotism and pride both from the postman as well as the approving civilians.
The next scene cleverly contrasts the first, leaving little doubt as to what the film’s agenda will be. A schoolteacher tells his students about the necessity of military service and defense of the fatherland. By preying on the naivety of his students as well as romanticizing the concept of wartime heroism, he brainwashes them one-by-one into enlisting in the Army. This scene is directed brilliantly as several of the students are shown having flash-forward dream sequences, including a hauntingly prophetic look into the future of the main character Paul’s (Lew Ayers) future with his mother seeing him in his infantry uniform and appearing horrified, almost talking himself out of it, until he has another vision of his father beaming with pride over Paul’s decision.
Once the boys arrive for duty they discover the postman who they had all loved so much is their now sadistic platoon sergeant. Perhaps because he was so weak and mousy in his civilian life or because he is releasing long repressed anger or maybe it is simply meant to illustrate that war brings out the worst in people. This theory seems even more likely when the new recruits are mixed in with several longtime veterans who are clearly jaded and less-than enthusiastic about the war. They prey on the boys’ inexperience very similarly to the way their teacher did earlier- only this time by bartering their cache of food for the hungry young soldiers’ luxury items.
After some intense battle scenes, including amazing point-of-view transition shots between charging French troops as they are mowed over and entrenched German soldiers firing from behind a machine gun that realistically simulate both positions, a very morbid motif manifests itself. The battle-weary troops arrive at their company area after half of them have been wiped out. Rather than lamenting the loss of their comrades, they are overjoyed to discover that the cook has prepared meals for the entire company, meaning that they are going to receive double-rations. This horrifying devaluation of life is further expressed when the cook is more distraught that he has been doing far more work than he needs to by cooking for dead soldiers than he is about the actual dead soldiers.
In a post-feast discussion, the soldiers both young and old come to realize they have been conned as they begin to discuss the circumstances surrounding the war. Some blame the French for starting it, others claim that it was their own country; some speculate that the Kaiser is required to start a war as a custom and others still bring the Brits into the discussion. Soon they all understand that, despite their varied economic and educational backgrounds, they are all essentially pawns and that the one conspicuous absence is the Kaiser himself.
The degradation of human life becomes even more prominent in the soldiers’ attitudes in a ghastly montage that revolves around the prized boots one of the young recruits inherited from an uncle who served prior to him. As he lays dying in a field hospital with both legs amputated, one of his platoon-mates asks him for the boots, even coldly stating that they are useless to the legless soldier. As if they are cursed, we see the boots trade hands several times with the same result, the owner is killed. It finally gets to the point that we don’t even see who gets them anymore as getting acquainted with that character is pointless since he is just going to die only to have his boots plundered by another soldier. The montage that illustrates this is a show-stealer.
One incident in particular pushes Paul over the edge in his feelings on the war effort. During an intense firefight he finds himself stranded in a blasted out hole with a French soldier he has wounded but not killed. As he uses the crater for protection from the ongoing onslaught (where we see some fascinating night scenes of tracer-fire and a looking-up view of several soldiers jumping the crater without stopping to notice the two men) the enemy soldier slowly and painfully dies. Paul becomes so guilt-ridden that he promises the dying man that he will contact his family to let him know what happened to him then subsequently falls to pieces when he finds the man’s wallet with pictures of his wife and children.
“You still think it's beautiful to die for your country…. When it comes to dying for country, it's better not to die at all” (Paul Baumer, “All Quiet on the Western Front”)
Paul returns home on leave disgusted and disillusioned. He finds that all the men who have stayed behind are banging the war drum loudly and ironically since they are all safely armchair-quarterbacking the war from home. His vision comes true when his mother is shown to be concerned and frightened, yet his father is one of the ones ranting the most vocally about what strategy the Germans should engage in next. The final straw, however comes when Paul returns to his old school. The same teacher is attempting to indoctrinate a new wave of students into going to war. Paul gives them a heartfelt and honest speech based on his experience from the front lines. However, the current crop of students are more far gone than Paul’s generation was, and they turn on him immediately. The only moment of solace or comfort Paul gets in his entire trip home is talking with his sister and admiring the mounted butterfly collection the two gathered as children. He subsequently ends his leave early and returns to the front.
Defeated by the death that is again surrounding him, but encouraged by the impending “all quiet” signal and unusually sunny day, Paul notices a butterfly just outside his bunker that he hopes to add to his collection with his sister. The final scene plays out heartbreakingly predictably. All that is seen is Paul’s hand reaching for the butterfly when suddenly a sniper’s round goes off and Paul’s hand flops down just short of the butterfly. He dies with the butterfly, just like his hopes of surviving the war, just out of reach.
There are anti-war films and then there is “All Quiet on the Western Front.” Not only does this film put a human face on the carnage of war, but it goes the extra mile beyond what so many other films of this type do. By making the focal point soldiers in a military other than our own, it gives a universal nationality feel to the movie, which effectively shows us that war affects everyone the same, regardless of nationality. By being an indictment of war in general and not just a specific one, “All Quiet on the Western Front” takes a far more extreme stance than the average anti-war film; which definitely won’t be for everyone but it certainly panders to me.
No comments:
Post a Comment