“All Quiet on the Western Front” Film Review
If you’ve had a chance to look at which films have been nominated for best picture at the Oscars in 2023, you’ll find some of the most popular movies of last year— “Elvis” (Luhrmann, 2022), “Top Gun Maverick” (Kosinski, 2022), and Avatar: “The Way of Water” (Cameron, 2022), just to name a few. At the very top of the list, however, is the Netflix original “All Quiet on the Western Front” (Berger, 2022), an anti-war film set during WWI. After doing a quick Google search, I found that it has a 92 percent on Rotten Tomatoes and it has garnered much acclaim amongst European audiences for its content, scoring, and visual aesthetic.
SLU film club opted to host a screening of “All Quiet on the Western Front,” and after watching it, I have a few thoughts. But first, a quick plot summary: Three years into the first world war, 17-year-old Paul Baumer enlists in the German army with several of his schoolmates. Paul is swiftly thrust onto the front lines and exposed to the horrors of trench warfare. The film chronicles Baumer’s maturation in the face of extreme human suffering—finding camaraderie amongst his fellow soldiers, experiencing great loss, and battling the physical and mental toll of warfare. Simultaneously, the narrative tracks Matthias Erzberger, a German official attempting to establish an armistice with the Allied powers in an effort to preserve the lives of German citizens.
“All Quiet on the Western Front” is beautifully produced. The scoring (allegedly inspired by the discography of Led Zeppelin) was the first thing that stood out to me. It’s a bit repetitious, but also adequately ominous and haunting, which emphasizes the disturbing and gritty content of the film. The camerawork employs a lot of deep focus, or, where the foreground, midground, and background of a shot are simultaneously in focus, providing more detail. The movie doesn’t shy away from graphic imagery, either. Soldiers are shown being beaten with shovels, scorched with flamethrowers, and even being crumpled underneath tanks. (Although its depiction of the violence of WWI seems relatively historically accurate, I wouldn’t recommend this film if you have a weak stomach.)
So, it’s an anti-war movie. Even though it is aesthetically pleasing, at first glance, the plot may appear predictable. War is glorified for young men across a given nation, and the protagonist eagerly joins the war effort, only to experience horrors beyond comprehension. In contrast, “All Quiet on the Western Front” is subtly emotionally provocative—it not only portrays the firsthand point of view of a young soldier, but also that of a government official attempting to use their influence to preserve life. The different perspectives used in the film break up the narrative and give viewers a broader image of all the moving parts in the armistice effort.
All in all? Don’t sleep on “All Quiet on the Western Front.” In my opinion, its nomination for Best Picture at the Oscars is deserved.