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Peace Only for the Dead - All Quiet on the Western Front (2022)

The hellish cacophony of war rattles the airways as soldiers by the thousands are either mangled by gunfire, silenced by twists of cold steel, or blinked out of existence entirely by one of many wicked tools of combustion. However they go, they all go screaming as their ultimate sacrifice moves their respective fronts forward and back pitiful meters at a time. And even when peace harks from the heavens and lingers on the horizon for all to see, many turn away in favor of senseless bloodlust, shrouded in the fallacy of glory and honor.

Based on the best selling book of the same name, Edward Berger’s All Quiet on the Western Front is a film drenched in the horror of World War 1, highlighting the grueling, blood-soaked reality of trench warfare as it’s fully and unnecessarily perpetuated by pride and dubious diplomacy. Throughout the film we follow Paul, a young high school student, and his friends as they are swept up in rousing speeches of German pride that ultimately convince them to enlist in the military. Starting with starry eyed enthusiasm, they all quickly come to find that their initial euphoria for war is nothing more than a beautiful fallacy; a fallacy that quickly shatters as each passing day spirals them further down into a bottomless pit of fear, death, and despair. 


If not already apparent, All Quiet on the Western Front is not for the faint of heart, painting an uncomfortably reality where nationalist honor far outweighs the people called to defend it. From start to finish it’s bodies, upon bodies, upon tears, upon blood. And although this film isn’t action focused every second of its 2+ hour run time, it does an exquisite job of instilling its viewers with the lingering dread and sense of hopelessness that the characters undoubtedly feel in their day to day. Conversely when the action does kick in, there is no sense of awe or glory to be had. It is harsh, brutal, dirty, terrifying, and unrelenting, so much to the point that long after the gunfire and explosions stop, the horror of that experience forever lingers moving forward, feeling it’s loudest and most potent when all is at its most calm.


All that being said, such a tale of woe is not without its moments of levity. Paul and his compatriots truly go through unspeakable hell, seeing and experiencing atrocities and tragedies that twist and contort many a decent soul beyond repair. However, it's the peace, hope, and genuine joy they find within simple pleasures and one another that carries not just them, but the audience through all the turmoil until the very end. 


So is it worth the watch? I’d say so. Because even in a world where we already have an endless slew of movies and documentaries detailing a myriad of stories centered around WW1 and WW2, there are very few that capture the humanity of whom many consider to be the villains of those catastrophic real world events. The bleeding of the German male youth during the events of WW1 is nothing short of haunting tale where the real villains aren’t power crazed, self-proclaimed demigods or a collective of tyrannical regimes, but rather frivolous pride, the illusion of war-forged glory, and the dehumanization of “the other.” I can’t say the journey was enjoyable in the traditional sense. But if nothing else All Quiet on the Western Front will captivate and teleport you to a time and place that you will not soon forget, for better or for worse.


- Levi Mock




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