BrianKoller's Full Review: All Quiet on the Western Front
"All Quiet on the Western Front" was the first great film of the sound era. It remains the greatest anti-war film ever made, and it is one of best war films ever, much better than more acclaimed films such as "Apocalypse Now" or "Bridge on the River Kwai".
Lew Ayres stars as a common German soldier during World War I. (This viewpoint is unusual since nearly all English-language world war films are from the allied perspective.) Politics such as what nation started the war are ignored, and the story is life on the front lines. Trenches, shelling, machine guns, hand-to-hand combat, hunger and death are all the soldier knows, and his only question is, when will it be my turn to die? One soldier is shown reading a math book, and is told by another, "What are you reading that for? Someday you'll stop a bullet and it will all be for nothing."
"All Quiet on the Western Front" rejects the
patriotism behind war. Ayres' character even
delivers the line "It is better not to die at all
than to die for one's country." The film was
banned in Germany until after World War II.
Hospitals near the battlefield fill with the
wounded. Their limbs are amputated and they cry
for doctors, who are too busy with other patients
to tend to them. Most of wounded soldiers die,
and their possessions such as watches and boots
are taken from them while still living.
The best scenes are the front line battles. In an
incredible sequence, French soldiers are shown
rushing to German trenches, mowed down by the
hundreds by German machine guns. The French
soldiers reach the trenches, and engage in
hand-to-hand combat with the Germans. Wrestling
and spearing with bayonets follows. It is as if
the viewer is in the German trenches as well. The
horror and waste of trench warfare could not be
better demonstrated.
"All Quiet on the Western Front" was initially
filmed as silent. Influences of the silent era
can be seen in some scenes, such as soldiers
eating with exaggerated hand motions and facial
expressions.
The film won Academy Awards for Best Picture and
Best Director (Lewis Milestone), and was
nominated for Best Cinematography and Best
Writing. (94/100)
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