All Quiet on the Western Front

As I finally start to catch up on films in my post-honeymoon sprint (and eager to get caught up before Black Panther later this week), the final to-do  was All Quiet on the Western Front, a remake of the war film that shares the same title. 

Having heard a ton of good things about this one - both from other reviewers I follow and professional critics - I was looking forward to catching it on Netflix. The German foreign film will likely be their submission at the Oscars and I'm not sure I've ever seen a World War I film shown from the German perspective. 

War movies are interesting case studies in my eyes and in the history of Rath's Reviews because they tend to get really high reviews, often of the order of 8.5+, but they rarely place at the top in the Rath Awards. Both 1917 and Dunkirk, for example, scored perfect 10/10 with me and placed 3rd in both their year's Rath Awards. Certainly nothing to scoff at, but surprising given the perfect scores they earned. 

Perhaps personal in nature, but as much as I enjoy watching these intense war films the first time, I find they're often not all that enticing to watch again. Part of that is because I watch so many films that revisiting often goes by the wayside due to time, but in other respects it's because they're intense sequences of violence that actually happened and its hard to find a ton of enjoyment in that. 

I suspect All Quiet on the Western Front, easily the bloodiest and hardest to watch of the three films listed thus far, will suffer the same fate. It's a very good movie (though I don't think it's as good as either of those other examples), but it's also the most brutal. World War I was a collection of horrors in the history of mankind and All Quiet seems determined to remind us, the audience, of that truth. It succeeds greatly there, offering up grisly images and situations that are both shocking, cringe-inducing, and sobering. I find this to be a strength when it comes to depictions of war, so it's to the film's benefit. These difficult circumstances combine to create a narrative that you believe: that war is an awful nightmare scenario and shouldn't be glorified. 

All Quiet goes a step further with this sentiment by utilizing simple characters who (mostly) are clearly at the cusp of their manhood. Without ever directly saying it, the movie does an impeccable job at making you realize that these battles are a collection of really young, terrified men with almost no clue what they're doing, being ordered to kill on behalf of older men making decisions safely from behind the lines of the battlefield. That horror and intensity comes alive in some expertly crafted battle sequences that capture the scope, magnitude, and violence of World War I. 

The story beyond that core theme is fairly generic, if not well executed. These soldiers all have hopes and dreams and many form bonds with one another. For the majority of the runtime, we're on the cusp of the end of the war, as there are figureheads preparing to sign cease-fires. The performances are top notch, though I didn't find the plot all that interesting. Sad, yes. But also predictable and to me felt like it was missing a central mission or conflict. For the most part however, that only minimally matters because the rest of the film is a masterclass in cinematography, original score, editing, choreography, and pacing, not to mention all the things I've already praised. 

All Quiet on the Western Front is a brilliant film that is impressive in many ways, not the least of which how effective it is at capturing and forcing you (as well as its characters) to face the horrors young men encountered in war. In that regard, it's score will obviously be high, but I can't say I'd have a need to revisit it again. 

CONS

• Story is well told, but felt generic and lacking an overarching purpose
• Could have used a trimming here and there

PROS

• Amazing performances across the board
• Intense war sequences that strike the right balance of grisly images, brutality, and violence. It's effective in capturing the horrors of war without overdoing it
• Memorable cast of characters, most of which are eager young men, excited to start their lives after the war
• Top notch cinematography
• Minimalistic, but effective original score
• Truly paints a picture - without ever having to blatantly do so by words - of the horrors of World War I

Rath's Review Score | 8.5/10