All Quiet on the Western Front & Ashes and Diamonds
After watching the film “All Quite on the Western Front” both old and the New Netflix one and this film “Ashes and Diamonds”, I think these film shows how political beliefs loyalty and the sense of duty can force people to do horrible thing even if no one involved wants to do them.
For the film Ashes and Diamonds, the main character Maciek has spent years fighting for Poland in the World War 2. Even though the war is ended, he is still expected to kill for his cause. He wants to live a normal life after meeting a woman named Krystyna. He wants to have a normal life, but it is very difficult for him to leave his dark past behind.
The same thing happen to the young mens in the All Quote on The Western Fronts film. Those young mens signed up to fight for a good cause, that’s what they thought at the beaning. They lefty behind the peaceful civilian life. They thought that they would just go to the front line fire few shots and come back home as a hero. I think people often go to war because they believe they are doing the right thing, but they may not understand the terrible consequences until it is too late. The All Quite On the Western Fronts films perfectly shows us that.
One of the biggest similarities between this two films are the villeins, the people who encouraged other to fight for a cause, political beliefs and or for a scene of patriotism. In All Quite on The Western Front, the not so obvious monster the school teacher, who encouraged his male school students to sign up for the German Army and die for their country. With his speech he makes fighting and dying for Germany very honorable and glorious. Even though he never fought in the front line in an industrial war like the World War 1. The young men beliefs him, they do signed up for the Army. They see their school teachers as an authority figure and want to prove to his that they are brave and patriotic. However the school teacher have never experience the horror of World War 1 trench warfare.
As many of my classmates pointed out films shows the difference between the heroic image people think war is and the reality soldiers actually face in the war. The young stupid men discovers that war is not about glory or honor, it is all fear, suffering and just trying survive a little longer. Until the next time when their commanders sends them to the meat grinder again.
I agree with my classmates, Camila, who mentioned that this film very successfully shows how war propaganda can influence young people. Most of the time the propaganda does not have to come from the government. I can also comes from teachers, society and media. Who makes the war sounds like a great adventure, a story you can share proudly after returning home as a hero. In United States of America currently, the Hollywood movies are better at military recruitment than any government ran ads.1 Propagandas works better from places where we do not expect them to come from. Like mostly outside of governments. In the All Quite on The Western Fronts, by showing us the what happened to Paul and his friends, the film shows us the both side of the war, propaganda vs the reality on the front line and in home. I also liked the opening of the 2022 Netflix version, in which military clothing and equipment from dead soldiers are passed on to new recruits. The cycle of industrial warfare, one generation of young men replacing another generation.
In the movie, Ashes and Diamonds, the situation is different because the main character is already experienced resistance fighter during the Nazi occupations of Poland. How ever when the Germany looses war, Poland faces another enemy, The Soviet Union. The main character got caught on another war, fighting the communist. Even thought the war ended in his country, the political violence continues. One big massage of this film is that, defeating one enemy does not automatically bring peach. People can continue fighting because they disagree about who should control their country and what kind of future it should have.
In this movie, the main character is very interesting because he gets caught between his duty and his desire to live a normal life with his life partner that he recently met. But he has spent so much of his life following order that it is very hard for him to go back to the normal civilian life. This is a very common phenomena even for regular military personal that has never went to any war.2 Most people who served in the military from a very young age, they die right after retirement. Unlike the young men in the All Quite on The Western Fronts where the young men just beginning to understand the horror of war, the main character already experienced the horror. Nevertheless, both he and Paul are trapped in situations that prevent them from living the lives they might have wanted.
Another thing between these two movies, is how war war separates soldiers from ordinary civilian life. On the All Quite On the Western Front when Paul returns home, he realizes that the people back home do not fully understand him. They have totally different understanding of how wars are on the front line. Most people continue to speak proudly about the war, but Paul knows how terrible it really is. As a result they feel alienated from their own community.
This connects to an important point from my original post, soldiers can sometimes feel that they have more in common with their enemies than with the people who encouraged them to fight. Soldiers on opposing sides may understand each other’s fear and suffering because they have experienced similar horrors.
On the other hand, main character on the Ashes and Diamonds, cannot simply put down his weapons and start over while people around him continue to fight over the country’s future.
My main takeaway from both films is that people often go to war because they believe they are doing the right thing. There are many thing that sends people to fight in war and never want to leave war behind, like patriotism, political beliefs, social pressure, or a sense of duty. All of them never fully understand the consequences until they experience the reality of war themselves. I believe that people should question messages that make war sound glorious and consider the human cost before supporting violence.
- Di Placido, “Top Gun: US Navy Recruiting Applications Increase.”
- “TheGunZone, ‘How Many Military Retirees Die After 10 Years of Retirement?’”