Neither an accusation nor a confession, All Quiet on the Western Front proceeds as an unbiased comment. Gut-wrenching harmonies came through with the Erich Maria Remarque, a fractured look at an intense period. The throes of life on the frontline were written with such disgust and fear. All Quiet on the Western Front’s adaptation provides visualisation to the horrors of war, and it does so with sincerity and integrity. Pride overtaken by mortality is the build this Lewis Milestone-directed feature presents. A milestone indeed. Young minds and their perceptions of freedom and fighting for a just cause, without knowing what that would entail. That is the core of All Quiet on the Western Front, as it is for many war films that followed.
That striking message is hit upon time and time again, but nowhere does it feel so damning and intense as this. Haunting connotations of the First World War linger. Damaging tales of faux glory line the halls of students hoping to feed their desires for heroism. The reality that comes is as sharp and fearsome a horror as the moments that lament war and the horrors of it. All Quiet on the Western Front finds its release at a time when war had torn families apart and destroyed the prospects of millions. Louis Wolheim’s leading performance aggrandises that well. Spurred on by a love for country, All Quiet on the Western Front does well to explore the dangers of blind patriotism.
Quick-cut shots of smiling students proud of their fight for war in the face of a teacher contrast well just moments later with fear prevailing. Sound, responsible fear. Drowned out by the sounds of patriotism and the “how bad can war be?” feeling that erupted through those that volunteered for service. Milestone finds great joy in the big moments, the captivating depictions of war that follow and the mud, blood and toil that comes from it. Much of it is seeped in chilling accuracy. The huddled soldiers deep in their trenches, the conversation that is littered throughout. Milestone hits on the accuracies with no real joy, but he does so with an intensity matched only by the performance Wolheim offers here. Intercut with explosions and reactionary shots, All Quiet on the Western Front is not just a heart-wrenching piece of war film, but an assessment of how a perceived noble conquest can actually provide complete disaster for the individual.
Regardless of nobility or cause, All Quiet on the Western Front engages with the horrors of war so articulately, so incredibly. Often it is without a word. Milestone lingers on the worried faces that litter a trench or the adrenalin-charged panic of men knowing their time has come. It is as chilling to watch as it must be to experience. Comrades at arms are just that, at arms. They are thrown into the battlefield. Milestone makes the grave and harrowing point that young men were thrown to the slaughter. Those that did not die experienced monumental horrors that, as Wolheim’s incredible performance shows, will haunt those that survive. What is moving is the camaraderie, what is apparent is the accusation All Quiet on the Western Front insists it is not making.
