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Stanley Kubrick
Retrospective and exhibition in the Deutsches Filmmuseum and the Deutsches Architektur Museum from 31 March to 4 July 2004, Frankfurt, Germany.
www.stanleykubrick.de
All Quiet on the Western Front 20 May 04
Section: kubrick
Categories: Film / in-a-cinema
Shown in the context of the current Kubrick retrospective here in Frankfurt, this truly remarkable film by Lewis Milestone made in 1930 shows young men being tricked into joining the army by jingoistic rhetoric, stories of heroism and appeals to their manhood. Inevitably they end up being used as cannon-fodder and having their lives destroyed, as well as destroying the lives of their counterparts on the “other side.” It isn’t surprising that it was immediately banned by at least two of the countries involved in the story—remaining banned up until the 50s and 60s. (Paths of Glory was banned by some countries as well, such as Switzerland and France: the fact that the French regiment in the film was portrayed by 800 German policemen near Munich might have rubbed salt in their wounds. The film was also banned from being shown on US military bases in Europe.)
I was stunned by the brilliance of this film, by its sophisticated cinematography and direction, by the somewhat recitative quality of the dialogue which was beautiful for me and may have partially come from an effort to make the dialogue clearer in those early days of sound. Anyway, I liked how the dialogue was done.
The German author of the book upon which the film was based, Erich Maria Remarque (his family name was Kramer, backwards Remark which became Remarque; the Maria was his parents’ middle name), was accused of pacifism; I don’t know if he was an avowed pacifist, but I have the impression that labeling someone a pacifist at that time roughly corresponds to labeling someone unpatriotic today (or worse, a liberal). So, a good thing.
There are so many aspects of the film that fit together so well that it has to be seen to be appreciated, but two scenes in particular stay with me:
- In one scene the new recruits are sitting under a tree by a river with a few of the more seasoned soldiers discussing why such countries go to war against each other. They don’t manage to find a satisfying reason, realizing that they don’t have anything against any French or British soldiers, and they can’t imagine any of the British or French soldiers would have anything against them. It reminded me of Muhammad Ali’s statement decades later when he heroically refused to fight in the US war against Vietnam: I got nothing against no Viet Cong. No Vietnamese ever called me a nigger. Someone then suggests that wars start when one country offends another country, but they can’t make sense of that either. One soldier comments that all he knows is that some manufacturers make a lot of money on these wars.
- In another scene the protagonist, Bäumer, lands in a shell hole with a French soldier and in hand-to-hand combat he stabs him with his knife, thinking he killed him. But he is trapped in the hole by heavy fire, and after a while the enemy soldier begins to stir—it turns out that he is not dead. Seeing this, Bäumer desperately begins to make every effort to revive him, to keep him alive, giving him water, talking to him, making him comfortable. This goes on for a long time during the battle, until finally the French soldier dies, in an upright position with his eyes open. Bäumer is despondent, removing the soldier’s ID and seeing a photo of a wife and child—he promises to the dead soldier that he will find his family and take care of them, that they will never want for anything if he can help it.
The battle scenes were the most powerful I have ever seen—and this, again, in a 1930 film. I think this flows from the content of the film, from the efforts to expose the horror of this kind of war. By comparison, a contemporary film with all its modern resources like Saving Private Ryan can only offer some well-done sound effects of bullets hissing through the air and penetrating clothing and flesh, and its safe, patriotic sentiment.
Particularly in light of current events it was painful to see these young men being drawn into killing and being killed for interests which are not their own, which cannot be their own in an imperialist war.
Though I haven’t confirmed it, I can only assume that Kubrick knew All Quiet on the Western Front well… it is echoed in Paths of Glory extensively, and in Barry Lyndon (the amputation) and Full Metal Jacket, also extensively.
Title: All Quiet on the Western Front
Directed by: Lewis Milestone
Writing credits: Erich Maria Remarque, Maxwell Anderson, George Abbott, Del Andrews, C. Gardner Sullivan, Walter Anthony, Lewis Milestone (latter two uncredited)
Based on the novel by: Erich Maria Remarque
Starring: Louis Wolheim, Lew Ayres (as Bäumer), John Wray, Arnold Lucy, Ben Alexander, and more
Music by: Sam Perry, Heinz Roemheld
Cinematography: Arthur Edeson, Karl Freund (uncredited)
Year: 1930
Cinema: Filmmuseum, Frankfurt Germany
- Title: All Quiet on the Western Front
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