Film Essay: Early Essential Anti-War Films

Anti-war propaganda movies have always remained a popular subject. Usually when modern audiences think about them, many tend to refer to the ones made in the 70s to the present with such classics as "Full Metal Jacket", "Platoon", "Saving Private Ryan", "Apocalypse Now", "Schindler's List", "Hacksaw Ridge", and "American Sniper." That mainly comes from how modern audiences tend to focus more on films made after the "Black and White Hollywood era." But there are still many who are unaware of the existence of anti-war movies made during the early stages of cinema as most of them were used as propaganda for fighting the war than calling out on the horrors and tragedy of it. They were undoubtedly a product of their time, yet, there were still anti-war films made around the time that has gone as far as to win the award for Best Picture for how powerful their messages were executed.

Through the silent era, anti-war films such as "The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse" and "The Big Parade" have successfully managed to shock and depress people through their portrayal of war. The first significant anti-war sound film that has won many audiences and critics over is Lewis Milestone's "All Quiet on the Western Front" from 1930. At the start of the film, it doesn't seem to treat itself as an anti-war film. We watch soldiers proudly march and sing in the background, wherein the foreground we see a friendly mailman (John Wray) making his last delivery before proudly going off to serve. We then enter a classroom filled with students who are given a lecture from their professor (Arnold Lucy) about serving the war. To inspire his class to join the war effort, rather than telling them to fight for their country, or to go to learn discipline, he instead glorifies it. He tells them that the war will be short with very little casualties, where they will easily be praised as heroes, for simply standing out on the lines and killing a few people while being properly taken care of. Through his speech, we see the students’ daydream about how they will be praised when they get back home. They think little of the risks and more about the parades and medals honored to them for their bravery, which will attract all the women around them. For their brains being filled with dreams that were directly placed in through their heads by their professor's propaganda, they immediately run off to join the war after they're questioned of who will go out and fight.

The training camp becomes their wake-up call about the realities of war as soon as their drill sergeant enters (who was formerly their mailman). The first order he gives them is to forget everything they learned as well as their dreams, so they can be dehumanized as soldiers. This order contradicts everything they were told by their professor, as they spend the next few weeks of rigorous training with hardly any breaks. Little do they realize that the horrors they are facing have not even begun. When they are sent off to fight, the war is nowhere close to their professor's description. They live in the trenches in a small bunker filled with rats, starving, as bombshells keep falling around them, almost making their bunker collapse above them. The constant bombings, the lack of food, and sitting around in boredom causes them to go insane. The action they part-take in doesn't make them feel any better. Not just because their lives are at risk, but also because they are watching their friends die in horrible ways as they kill the enemy realizing that they are probably not in the war for the right reasons either. Many have families they left behind as well. There is medical treatment available for the soldiers; however, it isn't reliable for how poor the conditions are, as most of them are sent home in a box after spending endless hours of agonizing pain. In the midst of all this, as the soldiers sit down to have a great feast after spending so many weeks or so with little food, they sit around wondering why they are fighting. They understand it's because their country leader is offended by another country leader, but they question why they have to do all the fighting instead of the people who overpower them. Why can't they settle their matters themselves, and send people who most likely don't care or offended by their conflicts fight for them? All they know is that the people who make them go are safe, as they are the ones catching the hell.

The closest that the film has to a main character is Paul (Lew Ayres), as the film is mostly just an ensemble cast. By the time Paul is allowed to visit his home, the war is still going on after the few years he's been fighting, with no signs that it will end soon. He hopes that people's opinions of the war will change, but it turns out that people are still living in ignorance. Paul is celebrated for his honor, but the people around him believe they know more about the war than he does. They tell Paul how he and the troops should have had a different strategy than the one they have, believing it would have ended the war quicker. Despite that Paul has been behind enemy lines seeing all this, he's being told that he doesn't know the details of war, as they foolishly believe Paul is under good treatment while the people at home live in conditions worse than the troops have it. This ignorance from the citizens’ point of view disgusts Paul, but it's not until he visits his old classroom that causes him to snap. Right as his professor is using the same kind of propaganda that lured Paul and his friends to fight, the professor uses him as a perfect of heroic bravery to his class so they can be just like him. Paul doesn't wish to tell the class the details of war until he is pushed by his professor to tell them. Instead of lying to the class about how wonderful it is to be a soldier, he tells them the cruelties that he and his friends have faced, telling them there is no glory when fighting. For this, the students in the class label him as a coward. Paul at this point becomes certain that everybody is brainwashed by the propaganda supporting war, knowing that many more lives from young recruits will be wasted.

"All Quiet on the Western Front" tackles more on the battlegrounds then it does the aftermath of the war. An anti-war film that focuses strictly on the aftermath of the war is William Wyler's "Best Years of Our Lives" from 1946, which follows the lives of three soldiers returning home after serving in World War II. The character who takes up most of the film's plot is ex bombardier Fred Derry (Dana Andrews). Before being shipped out to war, Fred married a beautiful woman named Marie (Virginia Mayo) that he's only known for less than a month. After returning home, Fred seeks to find a better career than his old soda jerk job since his skills in the war have made him ambitious to explore new horizons. Unfortunately, since he only worked one job, and spent all his time fighting which isn't qualified for any job in his town, Fred crawls back to his old job that is now under new management. As all this is going on, the woman he married who fell madly in love with him for being a war hero who is about to make a lot of money from his service, spends it all and quickly loses attraction to him for being nothing more than an ordinary man. Fred overtime begins to discover (along with another veteran) that there are people at home who don't appreciate soldiers. One of the patrons at the soda bar he works at, for instance, goes as far as to insult soldiers calling them suckers right to their faces. Fred can't so much as get a good night sleep from all the troubles he's facing after the war because his memories of fighting the enemy and watching people on his platoon suffer haunts him in his nightmares.

Fred has trouble finding a job, but former Platoon Sergeant Al Stephenson (Fredric March) gets a promotion at his old job from a banker to a Vice President in charge of small loans. The problem is that he notices that the bank has not been helping that many vets out because of their lack of collateral for being away fighting. The lack of finical help from the bank disgusts Al, believing that soldiers deserve a chance to rebuild their lives after serving their country. Al himself has trouble rebuilding his life at home. For being away for so long to heed Uncle Sam's call, he has missed watching his children grow. For their knowledge, difference in behavior, and work-life, he does not feel that they are not his children for how much they evolved. It becomes harder for him to rekindle with his kids now that they are at the age where they have their own lives, despite living at home. Although many of the scenes of Al drinking is played-out for comedy, there is still emotion to be felt since alcohol is the only thing at the moment that can help him cope with all his troubles.

In the very least, Fred and Al have made it out of the war in one piece. The third veteran they meet on their way home named Homer (Harold Russell) has lost his hands. The tragic part is he wasn't involved in any of the war combat. He was confined to a repair shop below the ship's deck. Due to a fire that was caused by enemy planes as the boat he was in sunk, Homer’s hand was severely burnt beyond any medical treatment. To replace his hands, the army gave him hooks as they trained him on how to use them. The hooks don't bother Homer until he returns home. Everywhere he goes he is pitied for his loss than he is treated like any other soldier who made it home without losing a limb. Some people (particularly children) just stare at his hooks in shock of his deformity. This angers him where he feels that he must prove to society that he can function fine without hands. However, when adjusting to the activities in his home life, though succeeding in some eras with his hooks, he realizes he can never again feel his lover's hair. He notices that he can no longer light a match as quickly as others can because of his limitations. On top of it, he needs his father to assist him with getting ready for bed after taking off his hooks, who is now at this point as helpless as an infant is. Due to his depression from adjusting to society, he shuns away his girlfriend Wilma (Cathy O'Donnell) fearing that she will no longer love him now that she has to deal with his disability.

The reason why the topic of anti-war films has lasted so long is that war is a topic that has always stayed relevant. Whether the film takes place in World War II, the jungles of Vietnam, or during the Civil War, the portrayal of the horrors of war never seemed outdated. The times may be different, the weapons they carried may not be as advance as today's weapons, however, the pain and suffering the people go through is timeless. By watching the sadness that has happened to the lives of people in the past, we reflect on it knowing that war will only get worse during the course of time.