All Quiet on the Western Front | Title Explanation

In this section of our Colossus Movie Guide for All Quiet on the Western Front, we will discuss the meaning behind the movie’s title. 

Cast:

• Paul Bäumer – Felix Kammerer
• Stanislaus “Kat” Katczinsky – Albrecht Schuch
• Albert Kropp – Aaron Hilmer
• Franz Müller – Moritz Klaus
• Ludwig Behm – Adrian Grünewald
• Tjaden Stackfleet – Edin Hasanovic
• General Friedrichs – Devid Striesow
• General Ferdinand Foch – Thibault de Montalembert
• Matthias Erzberger – Daniel Brühl
• Written by – Edward Berger | Ian Stokell | Lesley Paterson
• Directed by: Edward Berger

Why is the movie called All Quiet on the Western Front?

At the end of All Quiet on the Western Front, we’re told:

Shortly after the beginning of the war in October of 1914, the Western Front became bogged down in trench warfare. At the end of the war in November 1918, the front line had barely moved. More than three million soldiers died here, often while fighting to gain only a few hundred meters of ground. 

For four years, the Western Front was a relentless clash of soldiers. Every week, thousands died and thousands more arrived to replace them. Everyday, you’d hear rifles, machine guns, artillery, tanks. Maybe if one side finally routed the other there would be a stretch of peace. But because of the deadlock, the fighting kept going and going and going and going. Neither the Germans nor the Allies would yield. So it was very loud. 

But once the Allies and Germans sign an armistice, the fighting halts. For the first time in years. Which is why there’s that scene with Kat where he points out how quiet the day is. Initially, this silence is a relief. We can bask in the fact that Paul made it through. But General Friedrichs orders the 10:45am charge, a last attempt to close the war with a sense of victory. Many more soldiers who could have gone home, instead, end up as casualties. Pointless casualties. When 11am finally arrives and the war ends, a mortally wounded Paul walks out of a bunker and basks in the silence. Except now it’s bittersweet. He won’t make it. He won’t get to return to his life. So that last silence, the one that closes the movie, is incredibly bittersweet. The war is over. And that’s good. But you can’t help but think about all who were lost, sacrificed. The many, many Pauls, Kats, Alberts, Franzs, Ludwigs, Tjadens. They’re quiet too. 

So the title has a ghostly quality to it that captures the gigantic sadness of war. 

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