While browsing one of my favorite sites in the world (Youtube) in order to listen to some of my favorite music in the world (Northern European Metal), ironically enough, I came across a video that was quite applicable for my film class blog! ;-)
In this video, a montage of various clips from the 1979 version of All Quiet on the Western Front is accompanied with an epic, symphonic masterpiece by Swedish Power Metal band Sabaton. In my opinion, the song used to accompany the video fits the greater message of the film perfectly. (The song itself is about European trench warefare on the the Western Front during WWI)
The Lyrics:
Hear the sound of a machinegun
Hear it echo in the night
Mortals firing rains the scene
Scars the fields
that once were green
It's a stalemate at the frontline
where the soldiers rest in mud
roads and houses
all is gone
there is no glory to be won
know that many men will suffer
know that many men will die
half a million lives at stake
Ask the fields of Passchendaele
And as the night falls the general calls
and the battle carries on and on
How long?
What is the purpose of it all
What's the price of a mile?
Thousands of feet march to the beat
It's an army on the march
Long way from home
Paying the price in young men's lives
Thousands of feet march to the beat
It's an army in despair
Knee-deep in mud
Stuck in the trench with no way out
Thousands of machineguns
Kept on firing through the night
Mortars blazed and wrecked the scene
Guns in the fields that once were green
Still a deadlock at the frontline
Where the soldiers die in mud
roads and houses since long gone
still no glory has been won
know that many men has suffered
know that many men has died
Six miles of ground has been won
Half a million men are gone
And as the men crawled the general called
And the killing carried on and on
How long?
What's the purpose of it all?
What's the price of a mile?
Thousands of feet march to the beat
It's an army on the march
Long way from home
Paying the price in young men's lives
Thousands of feet march to the beat
It's an army in despair
Knee-deep in mud
Stuck in the trench with no way out
Young men are dying
They pay the price
Oh how they suffer
So tell me what's the price of a mile
That's the price of a mile.
Thousands of feet march to the beat
It's an army on the march
Long way from home
Paying the price in young men's lives
Thousands of feet march to the beat
It's an army in despair
Knee-deep in mud
Stuck in the trench with no way out
In regards to the movie itself -
Surpringly enough, I wasn't even aware of a newer version of the movie before laying my eyes upon this video. Surely enough, my insatiable curiosity caused me to research it over the internet...
The newer version of All Quiet on the Western Front was produced in full color by ITC Entertainment and released on the date of November 14, 1979. The developed under the thoughtful eye of American director Delbert Mann. Whern first released, most professional movie critics were of the opinion that the newer version failed to reach the magnitude of greatness established by Lewis Milestone's original 1930 version. Still, despite the vast disappointment of the critics, the newer film managed to win both a Golden Glode Award in the category of "Best Motion Picture Made for TV" and an Emmy Award for "Outstanding Film Editing for a Limited Series or a Special." After reading this, all that a reasonable person can say is, "Congrats Delbert Mann! =D"
Ironically enough, this one of the first Western movies to be filmed in a Communist block nation during the height of the Cold War (the majority of the movie was filmed in Republic of Czechoslovakia). This fact might show that the film's producers deeply understood the meaning that Erich Maria Remarque was trying to get across when first writing his novel. By seeing the utter uselessness of war, citizens from both the West and the East were able to momentarily set aside their ideological differences in order to make a beautiful work of art portraying the common humanity that we have in all of us, irregardless of where we stand on the political spectrum.
Correct me if I'm wrong Bennett, but I don't think that you ever mentioned to us that there was a newer version of the film. I'm pretty certain that you believe the original version to be a greater work of cinematography when compared to it's newer offspring, but why not show the two different versions of the film side by side? Not to mention the fact that the difference between a black-and-white film compared with a full-color version of the same movie would provide the basis for an intense discussion on the pros and cons of each... But I'm getting ahead of myself here, who am I to tell the teacher how to teach?
Back to the video,
The first few seconds (before the song rolls in) of the montage open with an enigmatic quote from an unknown author. A soothing female voice utters the words of, "Throw your soldiers into position once there is no escape, and they will prefer death to flight." To me, this quotation epitomizes what the the imperialistic rulers/warlords of the early 20th century believed to be true. The soldiers and infantrymen under were not even considered to be "men" at all, they were merely tools to be used in order to accomplish the whatever short-sighted objectives their leaders deemed necessary in order to garner a greater glory for their respective empires.
***Update***
A couple of days ago, Bennett off-handidly brought up a certain brilliant point that managed to slightly change the overall analysis I had of the film. He said something along the lines of,
"Inherently, all anti-war films eventually become pro-war films. These anti-war films raise the death & destruction to such a high degree of relevance, that we are left with no other option but to look at war with a great amount of reverence. Even the characters who are there to convince us how horrible of a thing it truly is, are just looked upon as great heroes to be honored for surviving such a treacherous & deadly journey."
Bennett's analysis brought me to a somewhat different interpretation of the movie that I had watched quite a while ago... I can clearly remember wincing when the main character returned to the classroom that he had left years ago in order to discourage a bunch of youthful, battle-ready German patriots from fulfilling their dream & duty of defending the Fatherland from all of its enemies. I even can remember thinking to myself, "What the hell do you think you're doing idiot? Do you honestly think your little speech can change the minds of all of these youngsters who are dying to die for their country? The mere fact that you are standing before them in relatively good health will give them hope that fighting a war and coming back as strong as ever is not as far out of reach as may seem. (Not to mention the many medals and accoclades that will be given to you by your superiors as an after-effect of your noble deeds on the far-off battlefront.) You my friend are a hero, it is time to act like one." My unorthodox reaction to this scene made my reminisce about a certain scene in Fargo which stirred up similar emotions in its audience. Specifically, the scene in where the female police officer is trying to instill some sense & morality into one of the most brutal serial killers I have seen on the big screen. Many in the audience thought this scene to be utterly rediculous & laughable - similar to my thoughts about the scene where a decorated, battle-hardened veteran comes back to tell the eager youth there is nothing glorious about war.
The video ends with a quote summarizing the "moral of the story",
"This story is to be neither an accusation nor a confession, and least of all an adventure, for death is not an adventure to those who stand face to face with it. It will try simply to tell of a generation of men who, even though they may have escaped its shells, were destroyed by the war." - Erich Maria Remarque
In my opinion, this eloquent quote get across the author's message better than any anti-war film ever could...
P.S. The band Sabaton is a talented Scandinavian metal band who single-handidly pioneered the entire genre of "history metal." Every single one of their songs deals with some kind of historical battle or war. (And yes, the name of their band is a direct reference to the armor that Knights wore during the medieval ages.)Although they sing in English (a language which obviously isn't their native tongue), they sing their songs with no significant accent. Bennett, although you may necessarily not be a fan of metal music, I am sure you will be able to appreciate their creativity in writing epic songs based on their love for history. I already know that Nick is quite receptive to this kind of music. Hopefully, Sabaton will gain a couple of new fans after this blog is published...... ;-)
Here is a Wikipedia page about them:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sabaton_(band)
Come to think of it... Although the lyrics of this song are about the all of the depressing horrors that one can find when face-to-face with war itself, the song is sung in such a way that makes the war sound like a wonderful adventure that one would only be so lucky as to embark on...
Quite a posting. I can't comment now as it's late and I'm tired. But, I'm anxious to see the clip and respond to your analysis
ReplyDeleteA great post. It evokes a lot of thoughts in me. FIrst, about the band. I find that it's often hard to listen to a song just once. I wasn't able to listen all the way through, but I was rushed, and sometimes you have to listen to a song a few times to get into it.
ReplyDeleteThat historical rock that you mentioned hit a chord with me, also. There was a group called "Renaissance" in the 70's that played songs with a historical theme. Sting does a bit of that too, I think.
The newer version of AQotWF is not a very good film. We could show the two and let the class decide, but with limited time, I elected not to. I often mention it in class. I just forgot about it this time. Hardly a serious omission, though, as you will discover should you watch it in its entirety.
I'm glad you found my observation about war films/literature edifying. I don't know whether my comment was "brilliant" or not, but it does have some merit, and I am pleased that you made a note of it. In general, your comments about me on the blog have been very complimentary, without being unctuous or obsequious, and, considering your penchant for suffering fools badly, amount to high praise. It's a nice feeling to hear that one's efforts are appreciated, and I offer my sincere thanks.
First off, I am glad you finally got back to me with a much more deeper response than the one in the first comment you left ;-)
ReplyDeleteIn terms of bands which have an affifinty for the use of many historical themes in their works, I am quite sure that if we set out to find similar cases - we would see certain examples in places that we previously overlooked. In other words, references to history in popular music are probably not as uncommon as we think...
I would like to think you for opening up my eyes to the band "Renaissance." When searching more information on Wikipedia, I found them to be rather interesting. It says that they were orginally established as a "a new group devoted to experimentation between rock, Folk, and classical forms." Curiosly, their career was quite sporadic - the were active in the intervals of 1969-1987, 1994-1998, 2000-2002. Were a big fan of their music back in the day?
Not suprisingly, I'm currently listening to one of their songs by the name of "Mother Russia"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=caIM8e5m4u8
In regards to the orginal topic of discussion "All Quiet on the Western Front", I am glad that you didn't waste our time by showing another version of a two-hour movie which, in all likelyhood, would have taken up an entire week of classes. I was just puzzled by the fact that you in didn't mention to us that there was another version of it. But you've stated your reasons for this clearly. Even though I don't doubt your assertion of the newer version of this movie being much poorer than the original, I will probably watch the newer version solely for the goal of satisfying my own curiosity.
And yes, you've head it head-on Bennett. I'm far from what people would describe as a "nice critic." As you've probably noticed in the past four years of knowing me, I'm quite outspoken & rarely ever pull any punches. But on the rare occasion where I do compliment someone, you can be sure that they deserved it ;-)