Such a beautiful review, Tim. I feel I don’t have to watch the film right away, (overwhelmed) but have it firmly catalogued in my mind to watch later. Thank you. Particularly for the context.
I don’t want to be too political, but the Kyiv Independent English language newspaper seems a really good follow for what’s happening daily in Ukraine. I’ve been having this existential angst where I feel I can tolerate Putin threatening to vaporize me in my sneakers more easily than I can fathom Mariupol or the ongoing unholy war crimes, (civilian rape, torture, murder) and the suffering of Ukrainian civilians. Plus, Ukraine agreed not to amass nuclear weapons in exchange for protection from Russia by the west. What a tightrope slippery slope clusterf%#k nightmare.
Once, I happened upon my dad (who fought before college in WW II [France, D-Day minus one]) watching “Apocalypse Now” on HBO. He was crying. He said, “They got it right. This movie finally got it right.”
As others have said, your review was superb and thought provoking. One cannot escape comparisons to the war in Ukraine. I watched All Quiet on the Western Front after reading your review--it has been on my list and your review was all the prompting I needed--and my thought after it was over was how can anyone watch this and still think war is a good idea. It seems like we do not ever learn. Men (mostly) have been formally killing each other for eons with ever more deadly weapons and to what end? I despair at times for the evolution of our species. My grandmere was French and met and married an American serviceman stationed in France during World War I so it was an illuminating glimpse into that time.
Just before I saw this film, I watched Narvik (Netflix/very good film) about a town in Norway that the Nazis tried to take over during World War II to gain control of their iron ore industry to provide material for their war machine. I had been watching Hunters (not great but interesting) mostly for Al Pacino hamming it up (he leads a group of Nazi hunters) and became interested in learning more about that part of history so this film was a small part of the piece of that war.
Other great "anti" war movies: Apocalypse Now (one of my top five movies) and I can't recommend highly enough the 1971 Dalton Trumbo film Johnny Got His Gun, a harrowing anti-war movie if there ever was one.
I think the big question about anti-war films is, do any of these powerful stories ever change anyone's mind about war?
From all I've heard and read, this is an excellent film, and essential viewing for those who haven't read the book or aren't familiar with the lessons therein. I read it more than fifty years ago, and the last page still sticks in my head -- much as the final page of "For Whom the Bell Tolls" continues to haunt me.
That said, I won't be watching this movie. I trust your judgment without reservation at this point, but there's only so much cinematic carnage I can take, or is remotely healthy to absorb. I'm not sure why -- it might be the weight of decades on my shoulders, or of being much closer to the end of life than the beginning, or maybe I'm just sick and tired of seeing massive violent bloodletting on screen -- but enough is at long last enough ... for me, anyway.
The parallels between the story this movie tells and the all-too-real world these days are inescapable, but other than support our government's aid to Ukraine and wish those poor bastards the best, there's not a lot I can do about what's going on over there. So like everyone else, I watch from a distance, hope for the best, and fear the worst. It's hard to envision a realistic way this war will end well, or to avoid the sense that we're on a path of escalation by desperation that could result in a global catastrophe unlike anything we've yet experienced.
Still, you never know. Back in the early 80s, the Philippines was on the brink of a massive bloodbath after the very public assassination of former president Begnino Aquino, after which his wife Cory ran for the presidency against the murderous dictator Marcos. There seemed to no hope of avoiding horrendous violence ... but it didn't happen. Cory won the race, Marcos went into exile, and a terrible civil war was avoided. So there's always hope, but subjecting myself to "All's Quiet on the Western Front" won't do anything to nurture any sense of hope in me -- quite the opposite, it seems -- which is why I'll just have to watch something else.
Fascinating review. The film reminded me of a couple of others: Kubrick's Paths of Glory, where the villains are the officers in charge of sending out the soldiers (David Simon has said that film was a big influence on The Wire, with its damning of institutions), and a lesser-known WWII film, The Bridge, from 1959, that shows extremely young German recruits turned into cannon fodder.
"If war proves anything, it’s that no lessons are learned for long." Truer words were never spoken, Tim. I did my undergraduate and post-graduate work in British history and spent time wandering WWI cemeteries and sites of battlefields in Belgium and France. Absolutely harrowing, particularly one wet and cold Easter Sunday wandering around Ypres and the cemeteries in the vicinity. Villagers are still finding mortar shells, etc. and if you walk down a rural road, it is not unusual to see the mortar shells just casually propped up against a lamp post waiting to be picked up by local authorities, which happens on a regular basis. I read All Quiet on the Western Front as a student and I do want to see the film but need to get myself in the right frame of mind, given where the world is just now.
This review really spoke to me, Tim. I watched this film with my family Thanksgiving week. I also thought it was excellent. But you’re right about the parallel to trench warfare in Ukraine today. President Zelensky evoked those images in his speech to Congress in December.
I am struggling to say more without getting overly political but I will just say I have a small Ukraine flag in my front yard. I have no plans of taking it down until that country is free and at peace.
Oh and as an aside, trying to find escapism from this war is harder than I thought. I was reading a historical holiday romance (think Bridgerton), and one of the characters in the story had a brother who died in Crimea. This is Victorian England! Alas, Europeans seem to fight over the same plot of land over and over again. And if anyone is enjoying Hulu’s The Great, the Ukrainians removed a statue of Catherine the Great from Odesa recently. Yeah, it’s hard to avoid …
Tim, this is an absolutely extraordinary review, one of your truly great reviews. I will watch “All Quiet on the Western Front” with anticipation and trepidation.
Empire of the Sun turned me into a war movie buff - nothing like the horrors of war through a child’s eyes to make you sit up, pay attention, and gain new appreciation for your soft life (especially so when the director is Steven Spielberg and the child is Christian Bale). Since then, I’ve checked Sophie’s Choice, Schindler’s List, Saving Private Ryan, Das Boot, Hurricane, Dunkirk, 1917, Their Finest, and All Quiet on the Western Front off my list. There’s the soft life thing perspective, but there’s also, for me, a fascination with the destructive power of a single madman and/or a country bent on domination.
What stuck with me the most about All Quiet was the eagerness of the German boys to join up, their misguided enthusiasm for an adventure that they expected to be akin to summer camp. I only needed to have seen a single war movie to know the scope of their disillusion.
Such a beautiful review, Tim. I feel I don’t have to watch the film right away, (overwhelmed) but have it firmly catalogued in my mind to watch later. Thank you. Particularly for the context.
I don’t want to be too political, but the Kyiv Independent English language newspaper seems a really good follow for what’s happening daily in Ukraine. I’ve been having this existential angst where I feel I can tolerate Putin threatening to vaporize me in my sneakers more easily than I can fathom Mariupol or the ongoing unholy war crimes, (civilian rape, torture, murder) and the suffering of Ukrainian civilians. Plus, Ukraine agreed not to amass nuclear weapons in exchange for protection from Russia by the west. What a tightrope slippery slope clusterf%#k nightmare.
Once, I happened upon my dad (who fought before college in WW II [France, D-Day minus one]) watching “Apocalypse Now” on HBO. He was crying. He said, “They got it right. This movie finally got it right.”
As others have said, your review was superb and thought provoking. One cannot escape comparisons to the war in Ukraine. I watched All Quiet on the Western Front after reading your review--it has been on my list and your review was all the prompting I needed--and my thought after it was over was how can anyone watch this and still think war is a good idea. It seems like we do not ever learn. Men (mostly) have been formally killing each other for eons with ever more deadly weapons and to what end? I despair at times for the evolution of our species. My grandmere was French and met and married an American serviceman stationed in France during World War I so it was an illuminating glimpse into that time.
Just before I saw this film, I watched Narvik (Netflix/very good film) about a town in Norway that the Nazis tried to take over during World War II to gain control of their iron ore industry to provide material for their war machine. I had been watching Hunters (not great but interesting) mostly for Al Pacino hamming it up (he leads a group of Nazi hunters) and became interested in learning more about that part of history so this film was a small part of the piece of that war.
Other great "anti" war movies: Apocalypse Now (one of my top five movies) and I can't recommend highly enough the 1971 Dalton Trumbo film Johnny Got His Gun, a harrowing anti-war movie if there ever was one.
I think the big question about anti-war films is, do any of these powerful stories ever change anyone's mind about war?
From all I've heard and read, this is an excellent film, and essential viewing for those who haven't read the book or aren't familiar with the lessons therein. I read it more than fifty years ago, and the last page still sticks in my head -- much as the final page of "For Whom the Bell Tolls" continues to haunt me.
That said, I won't be watching this movie. I trust your judgment without reservation at this point, but there's only so much cinematic carnage I can take, or is remotely healthy to absorb. I'm not sure why -- it might be the weight of decades on my shoulders, or of being much closer to the end of life than the beginning, or maybe I'm just sick and tired of seeing massive violent bloodletting on screen -- but enough is at long last enough ... for me, anyway.
The parallels between the story this movie tells and the all-too-real world these days are inescapable, but other than support our government's aid to Ukraine and wish those poor bastards the best, there's not a lot I can do about what's going on over there. So like everyone else, I watch from a distance, hope for the best, and fear the worst. It's hard to envision a realistic way this war will end well, or to avoid the sense that we're on a path of escalation by desperation that could result in a global catastrophe unlike anything we've yet experienced.
Still, you never know. Back in the early 80s, the Philippines was on the brink of a massive bloodbath after the very public assassination of former president Begnino Aquino, after which his wife Cory ran for the presidency against the murderous dictator Marcos. There seemed to no hope of avoiding horrendous violence ... but it didn't happen. Cory won the race, Marcos went into exile, and a terrible civil war was avoided. So there's always hope, but subjecting myself to "All's Quiet on the Western Front" won't do anything to nurture any sense of hope in me -- quite the opposite, it seems -- which is why I'll just have to watch something else.
Fascinating review. The film reminded me of a couple of others: Kubrick's Paths of Glory, where the villains are the officers in charge of sending out the soldiers (David Simon has said that film was a big influence on The Wire, with its damning of institutions), and a lesser-known WWII film, The Bridge, from 1959, that shows extremely young German recruits turned into cannon fodder.
Im.Pact.Ful
Thank you.
I've been reading you for 20+ years, Tim, and this is my favorite thing you've ever written. Truly powerful stuff.
"If war proves anything, it’s that no lessons are learned for long." Truer words were never spoken, Tim. I did my undergraduate and post-graduate work in British history and spent time wandering WWI cemeteries and sites of battlefields in Belgium and France. Absolutely harrowing, particularly one wet and cold Easter Sunday wandering around Ypres and the cemeteries in the vicinity. Villagers are still finding mortar shells, etc. and if you walk down a rural road, it is not unusual to see the mortar shells just casually propped up against a lamp post waiting to be picked up by local authorities, which happens on a regular basis. I read All Quiet on the Western Front as a student and I do want to see the film but need to get myself in the right frame of mind, given where the world is just now.
This review really spoke to me, Tim. I watched this film with my family Thanksgiving week. I also thought it was excellent. But you’re right about the parallel to trench warfare in Ukraine today. President Zelensky evoked those images in his speech to Congress in December.
I am struggling to say more without getting overly political but I will just say I have a small Ukraine flag in my front yard. I have no plans of taking it down until that country is free and at peace.
Oh and as an aside, trying to find escapism from this war is harder than I thought. I was reading a historical holiday romance (think Bridgerton), and one of the characters in the story had a brother who died in Crimea. This is Victorian England! Alas, Europeans seem to fight over the same plot of land over and over again. And if anyone is enjoying Hulu’s The Great, the Ukrainians removed a statue of Catherine the Great from Odesa recently. Yeah, it’s hard to avoid …
Tim, this is an absolutely extraordinary review, one of your truly great reviews. I will watch “All Quiet on the Western Front” with anticipation and trepidation.
Empire of the Sun turned me into a war movie buff - nothing like the horrors of war through a child’s eyes to make you sit up, pay attention, and gain new appreciation for your soft life (especially so when the director is Steven Spielberg and the child is Christian Bale). Since then, I’ve checked Sophie’s Choice, Schindler’s List, Saving Private Ryan, Das Boot, Hurricane, Dunkirk, 1917, Their Finest, and All Quiet on the Western Front off my list. There’s the soft life thing perspective, but there’s also, for me, a fascination with the destructive power of a single madman and/or a country bent on domination.
What stuck with me the most about All Quiet was the eagerness of the German boys to join up, their misguided enthusiasm for an adventure that they expected to be akin to summer camp. I only needed to have seen a single war movie to know the scope of their disillusion.