In the first of a new feature here at Flickering Myth, Sam Thorne looks at All Quiet on the Western Front…
The war film is not a genre easily defined, primarily because the nature of war itself is not easily defined. Be it a war centuries old, one only occurring in literature, or war that’s still raging now, cinema has probably attempted to depict it in some form. But that’s still a vague definition for the war film. There’s been countless battles, countless conflicts, countless casualties that all in some way deserve to be captured on the big screen. Let’s not forget the other sides to war, such as; civilian life in wartime, prisoners of war, espionage and basic training. For such a vast sector of past and current film, there’s little written about the war film as a whole.
‘I will try simply to tell of a generation of men, who even though they may have escaped its shells, were destroyed by war‘ – Pre-title cue card of All Quiet on the Western Front.
All Quiet on the Western Front is one of many films in the 20s and 30s to question and perhaps critique the point of global war, in the aftermath of WWI. It’s based on a novel, but several German soldiers were brought in as aids to make the film feel authentic. The film follows a small contingent of young, German men who decide to enlist after being persuaded by a propaganda lecturer. Gradually the naive group of friends begin to realize the true horrors of war, as shells, stray gunfire, even insanity begin to pick them off one by one. The tone is definitely mournful of war and its consequences, but the emotional connection is distanced a bit by the use of German soldiers as opposed to British or American, particularly when the language makes no attempt at deviating from English.
It could be said Milestone’s use of structure and pace adds to the melancholy mood quite effectively. At points the tone will seem jocular, or oddly happy, but instants later several more deaths will occur. It represents the concept that you can never escape war once on the battlefield, particularly in the trenches, to a tee. The shot never lingers, the dialogue rarely addresses the deceased, these young, unaware soldiers are mostly un-mourned. This foul, hard to face reality Milestone represents is a tough pill to swallow. Any ray of hope is basically quashed in the film’s ending minutes, as the last remaining member of the detachment is killed, while trying to reach a butterfly which landed just outside the sandbag barricade.
Overall All Quiet on the Western Front is a painful, but a necessary truth. However, it still exists with the whole dilemma of being removed of a national context. And as painful as Lewis Milestone’s depiction of war is, it never denies war as a necessity. If not those boys, then who will die for their country? The dialogue between the soldiers mainly settles on the fact that war is out of the hands of the general public. In some regards isn’t war then inevitable? It’s somewhat a blanket statement to say war is a terrible thing, but it could be implied the film makes no attempt to denounce the practise of war as a whole. Perhaps All Quiet on the Western Front justifies war as a terrible, yet necessary deed. That’s mostly a debate for another time however, as we advance towards the anti-war film in later features.
In terms of the genre, it establishes quite a few of the war film’s crucial tenements that arguably make it whole. Perhaps most crucially is that of the extended cast, and how to utilize them. This is the basic idea of introducing many characters, primarily for the luxury of killing them off for emotional heightening. This is particularly effective toward a film’s climax when the primary protagonist has no-one else to rely on, paired with feelings of isolation. The medium is perfected in later war films, such as the star-spangled epic Saving Private Ryan.
On the next edition of The Art of War, we dig deeper into the trenches, taking a more in-depth look at cinema’s varying portrayals of WWI.
Sam Thorne
Originally published March 11, 2014. Updated April 11, 2018.
