All Quiet on the Western Front (2022) - full transcript
The story follows teenagers Paul Baumer and his friends Albert and Muller, who voluntarily enlist in the German army, riding a wave of patriotic fervour that quickly dissipates once they face the brutal realities of life on the front. Paul's preconceptions about the enemy and the rights and wrongs of the conflict soon crumble. However, amid the countdown to Armistice, Paul must carry on fighting until the end, with no purpose other than to satisfy the top brass' desire to end the war on a German offensive.
Attack!
Attack!
Go! Come on! Faster!
Heinrich, come on! Forwards! Come now!
To the ladders!
On my command!
Forwards!
Heinrich! Get out there!
All of you, go!
Come on! Get out of there!
Go, Heinrich! Get out there now!
Attack!
Attack!
Go! Forwards!
Heinrich!
Heinrich!
- Attack! Attack!
- Attack!
ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT
Come on!
NORTHERN GERMANY
SPRING 1917
THIRD YEAR OF WAR
Paul! Paul!
- Paul! Well?
- So?
Mhm.
- Well then?
- I don't know.
- Does he know we're all going?
- Yes, of course.
Staying at home?
My God, you're tied
to your mother's apron strings, my friend.
Give me it, I'll scribble something.
- It has to be signed by his parents.
- Well, someone. Come on, pass it here.
- That won't work, they'll find out.
- How will they?
Well?
Is his mother a pen pal of theirs?
- Give me your pen.
- Ah, I'm sorry.
Oh!
Ludwig.
You mustn't. Your father will hit you.
Have you got a better idea?
I'm not being left behind here.
Jawohl!
Congratulations, Private Bäumer.
We're going to the front.
A dead man walking.
You stand here
on the threshold of existence.
Remember this moment.
It is a great moment.
For in years to come, you will be judged
based on what you dared to become today.
The iron youth of Germany.
My friends,
we are fortunate
to be alive at a great time.
Your deeds will be the water
nourishing the growth
of a strong and noble route.
Stand still and listen up, Leinemann!
The Kaiser needs soldiers, not children.
I am certain that I will see
most of you again soon, here at home.
Your sword returned to its scabbard
with honour and respect.
A cross crafted from iron
proudly displayed upon your chest.
However, take heed of this.
In the darkest of hours,
let me assure you it will happen,
that prior to an attack,
you will harbour doubts.
But this is not the time
to concede to any mental weakness.
Any unsteadiness, any hesitation
is a betrayal of the fatherland!
For modern war is like a game of chess.
It is never about an individual soldier.
Our only care
is for the entirety of the body.
You have the chance to earn the right
to wear the uniforms you have been given.
And by going to the front line
in Flanders, we'll pierce the enemy.
And then you will, in a few short weeks,
finally march on Paris!
Yeah!
Our future,
the future of Deutschland,
lies in the hands
of its greatest generation.
My friends, that is you, you see!
Yeah!
Therefore, off to the camps
for the Kaiser, God, and the fatherland!
Yeah!
Next.
Next.
Next.
- Next.
- Next.
Bäumer, Paul.
53 Wiesengrund.
Born November 18th, 1899. Correct?
Jawohl, sir.
Next.
Paul.
Here. Your father can be proud of you.
Yes.
Is everything alright?
Yes. I'm eager to get on with it.
Move along.
Here he comes.
- Emil Hermann.
- Name and address.
- And the next.
- Excuse me.
It already belongs to someone.
Ah, yes. It was probably too small
for the fellow. Happens all the time.
Here. It's yours.
Thank you.
I remember it, you were.
Oh, Ludwig, will you be snatching away
all the ladies from us now?
Yeah.
My concern is that you don't shoot us.
♪ Girl, I love you, I do ♪
♪ But I can't yet marry you ♪
♪ Wait another year
Then it will come... ♪
She won't wait, Franz.
She won't do it.
You lady killer, you.
♪ Have a cup of tea
Sugar and coffee ♪
♪ And a glass of wine
And a glass of wine ♪
♪ Girl, I do love you, I do ♪
♪ But I can't yet marry you ♪
♪ Wait another year
Then it will come true ♪
LA MALMAISON, NORTHERN FRANCE
25 KM TO THE WESTERN FRONT
- Your name?
- Kropp. Albert Kropp, sir.
Do you like dirty girls,
Kropp?
Do you like dirty girls?
Uh, no. I don't, sir.
So why
do you sleep with one then?
Report for guard duty at three o'clock.
Gentlemen, you'll be fighting
in a godforsaken shithole.
And you'll kindly do so with a clean G98.
You will pamper it.
You will love it.
And damn it,
you will keep it as immaculate
as the thighs of the Holy Virgin.
Do we understand each other?
- Jawohl, sir!
- Jawohl, sir!
Welcome
to the 78th Reserve Infantry Regiment.
We are now on the Western Front.
- Welcome to Paris!
- Yeah! Welcome to Paris!
Ah!
Down there! Down there!
Down there! This way!
This way!
- Go on! Over there on the right!
- Damn it, what happened?
I have orders to hand over the company
to the front by 6:00 p.m.
That you may, but on foot.
You must give us the trucks, lieutenant.
With all due respect, I have orders...
Take the orders
and stick them up your arse.
I have 40 men here
who are dying in the mud.
Get out right now, will you?
Everyone, get up.
Come on, get on with it.
You heard the staff surgeon.
Faster, soldiers. Don't fall asleep here.
Keep moving.
- Franz Müller, correct?
- Yes.
The supreme army command
expects you to survive
at least six weeks of being here.
Would you like that,
in six weeks, to still be alive?
- Jawohl, sir.
- Then walk quicker
and stop dragging your feet
like you would do at home.
- Do you understand?
- Yes.
Hurry up.
We're not at a tea party here.
Gas!
- Gas!
- Gas!
Gas!
Gas!
Gas masks on!
That, gentlemen, was a fat pig.
If the French could aim better,
you could scrape us all off the road
with a spoon and bury us in a saucepan.
But one thing
that's as certain as amen in church.
Fat pigs don't carry gas.
Eyes straight ahead.
- Are you deaf?
- No, sir.
I was just trying to put my mask on.
Paul Bäumer,
you will almost certainly be dead by dawn.
You should eat something, man.
Attention! Gas masks off!
Gas masks off!
Not you.
You keep yours on
until guard duty tonight.
Both you and that useless pig.
Fall in line. March.
Fall in line!
Stay together and keep moving!
Come on, hurry up!
Go!
Come on. Paul, come on.
Give me your knapsack.
Next time, you carry mine.
Congratulations, soldiers.
This is your home now.
Helmets off.
I see the men have been enjoying
themselves in my absence, Steinberger.
We were under barrage all night.
The men are a mess.
I think dry boots
would be a good place to begin.
Oh, you'd rather we all drown then?
Everyone pitch in!
Come on, bail out the trench.
Get in line
to bail the water!
What are you waiting for, Bäumer?
Why are you still loitering here?
Go and help bail out the trenches.
Throw a dog a piece of meat.
Come on, all of you!
It will always snap it up.
Give a man power...
Man is a beast.
Drink.
Katczinsky, come over here.
Give us a hand.
Tonight, it'll be even worse.
Sorry.
Forget it.
Somehow, this isn't how I imagined it.
Just shut up, Ludwig.
My hands. I can't feel my hands any more.
Stick them down your underwear.
It always works for me.
That will make it shoot better,
will it?
- Did you hear that?
- Hear what?
That sound. Listen.
There's nothing there.
Our first French to shoot.
Calm down, Paulchen.
There's someone out there.
Who's there?
Hey.
Show yourself!
Oh, no, no, no!
I'm hit! I'm hit! I've been hit! Get off!
- No, Paul. No.
- What's going on?
You're fine.
What is it?
The others, over there. They shot at me.
They saw the flash of your muzzle.
Huh?
From now on, keep your heads down.
If you don't want to catch
the next bullet with your teeth,
move ten meters to the left.
Shoot, change cover.
Shoot, change cover. Understand?
Yeah.
Come on. Paul.
Take cover! Take cover! Alarm!
Here!
Bäumer, come here. Quickly, come on.
Into the bunker!
Inside! Inside! Inside!
"Be careful what you eat."
That's what my mother said.
- We'll always be together, won't we?
- Yeah.
We'll stick together. We'll always be.
I can't do this, Paul.
I can't do this. I need to go home.
I need to go home.
Creeping barrage.
What?
Every couple of minutes,
the artillery barrage
makes an advance forward.
And directly after that,
the infantry moves forward.
What are you saying, exactly?
That's how they come.
Where are you going?
I'll come back.
It's nearly over.
- No! Let me go.
- Stay where you are.
- Let me out of here. I want to get out.
- Calm down.
Calm yourself.
No!
Get out! Out! Out! Out!
Out!
Hey, that's Paul!
Albert!
Come here, we found Paul!
Paul!
Are you alright?
Is everything alright, Paul?
Come on. Paul, come on.
I'll help you.
Come on. Get up, will you? Sit down.
Are you injured?
Paul, are you injured?
- Can you hear me?
- We need help over here!
- See you later, Paul.
- We'll see you later, Paul.
Go on! Go on!
Here's another one.
We need help!
Steady.
Steady.
That's it.
I've got you.
Careful, careful.
Now we're in camp. Sit down.
You're alright.
Nice one. Let's have a look at you.
Hold still, hold still.
Yeah, you're going to be alright.
Right, put pressure on it.
Don't let him get up.
Katczinsky, back to work.
And you? Are you injured?
No.
Then start gathering.
Man, man, man!
No rest for the wicked.
It's the same every day.
Come on! Keep working!
We don't have all day.
Albrecht, Karl. Diepholz.
18 MONTHS LATER
September 14th, 1898.
Blumenthal, Samuel.
Dresden. November 6th, 1900.
Yesterday was his birthday.
Von Gallwitz, Gustav.
Osnabrück, June 20th, '99.
Götz Lüttwitz...
That's enough.
SUPREME ARMY COMMAND
7 NOVEMBER, 1918
- She's a looker.
- Let's see.
She's alright.
Herr Erzberger.
God be with us.
Once more, over 40,000 killed
in the last few weeks alone.
That should convince the general staff.
I think the gentlemen know it's over.
We all know that.
The General Field Marshal.
Mm.
CHAMPAGNE, FRANCE
OCCUPIED TERRITORY
- Thank you.
- Jawohl.
Paul, if we keep up this pace,
we won't have conquered France
for 180 years.
I worked it out.
Don't let them catch you, Kat.
Never.
Come on.
Explain to me
how this is worth dying for in your mind.
When you're starving, you'll do anything.
Qui va là?
Ho!
Oh, putain!
Attends je vais flinguer ce fumier!
Kat?
Kat?
Run!
Hey! Dirty Kraut!
- Rends-moi l'oie, ordure!
- Run!
Fumier!
- Just right.
- I told you.
Men, you are heroes.
Shut the door or the others will smell it.
Nice work.
I don't know. How am I
supposed to remember anything?
Come on, use your Prussian brain.
Here. Open-eyed and long-fingered.
Help me with the goose.
A piece of goose from the goose.
From France to Franz.
I want a wing.
Do I have to share?
Then I'll take the rest.
Fill up my bowl.
Come here, you blind hen.
Wide-mouth frog...
- Rest in peace in the drumfire.
- Ooh.
Oh, God.
You know I'll owe you forever for this.
Mm.
It's not bad, is it?
Yes. Mm.
- And you?
- Yes. Yes, good.
It's good, Paul.
Good, Kat.
Life is short.
- Where's Emil when you need him?
- Emil, bring in coffee and caviar!
Yes, and draw my foot bath as well.
I need a foot bath.
- Kat?
- What is it?
♪ The goose has been stolen
Give it back ♪
♪ Give it, give it, give it back ♪
♪ The goose has been stolen
Give it back ♪
- The farmer! The farmer!
- The farmer! Yes!
♪ Otherwise the farmer
Will shoot you with his rifle ♪
♪ Otherwise the farmer
Will shoot you with his rifle ♪
♪ Shoot you with his rifle ♪
Tjaden sits very quietly and says...
"Where is he?"
"Cross." I keep hearing, "Cross."
"My father was leader of Nazareth."
"Leader of Nazareth?"
enquires the teacher.
"What?" "Never heard of it."
"Tjaden, go back home
and ask again, will you?"
Next morning, Tjaden springs into school
and says to everybody,
"Please forgive me."
"My father wasn't the leader of Nazareth."
"My father was last seen with Nadja Roth."
Brilliant.
Look.
Mhm?
Regarder!
Hey! Hello!
Come here!
Fresh baguette!
For you!
Liverwurst, love!
Lots of love!
Franz. What are you doing?
- Take me with you.
- Come on!
I'd go over.
But he's making a fool of himself.
Oh, my.
You are very beautiful, my love.
Franz!
The dark-haired beauty
is for me!
What is he doing?
Franz!
Goodbye!
Goodbye, my friends!
Damn it.
If it was all over,
you know what I'd be doing?
There's no peace,
so it doesn't matter.
No, but if there was...
- We'd be surrounded by women again.
- Yeah, that's true.
I wouldn't put trousers on
for eight days.
I should really be spanking your backside
for talking about something like that.
What about you, Paul?
- No idea. Can't think.
- I'd stay with the Prussians.
You're an idiot, Tjaden.
Have you ever done
any peat digging?
Try it sometime.
Can't be worse
than digging trenches in Champagne.
It takes longer
than digging trenches in Champagne.
And you can't get away with not doing it.
In peacetime military life,
you have no concerns.
Mornings, food's there
or else you're not there.
And then you have the softest bed.
Every week with fresh sheets over it.
And then...
And before you know it, I'm a corporal.
Imagine that.
Me becoming a military policeman.
A Cognac here, a pint there.
A military policeman
is everyone's good friend. Everyone.
There's just one catch, Tjaden.
What's that?
You'll never be a corporal though,
will you?
You always make such useless comments.
What does it matter what you think anyway?
- Kat! Kat!
- Here!
- Kat!
- Here!
Kat!
"Darling one."
"You asked us
for a package of food to be sent."
"Four portions of sausage
are on their way with lard."
"A couple of pieces of cake."
"Sauerkraut and smoked wurst."
"Some more..."
- Hing? Hingfong?
- Hingfong.
"...and a cup of sugar."
"Eggs and a glass of plum jam in there."
"Don't eat too quickly as I don't want
to have to send more right away."
"I'd keep it away
from your comrades if I were you."
"My dear one."
"I must also ask a question of you."
"Have you started to save up any money?"
"Could you send some home
would you think?"
"People are saying the war
will be over soon." "Some people."
"And so it would be helpful
to have some saved up."
"You're probably thinking,
'What is she after?'"
"'How cheeky of her to ask.'"
"But I mean not to offend you."
"You know me, I can never get enough."
"But more, more." "I can't help it,
I always want some more."
"So make sure not to fall over
before you can come home."
"Karl Lemmer is in a hospital bed
somewhere in the East."
"Something with his stomach."
"And he was out there
for barely three weeks in total."
"Can't you also be sick,
with your rheumatism?"
"You've already played your role."
If only she could see
how you're sitting there, with your cigar.
"This Sunday, I'll visit the gra..."
"This Sunday,
I'll visit the grave of our boy."
"I'll make sure to read to him
as you remember he loved that."
"By next year, we'll be able to celebrate
his tenth birthday together."
"That's all I have to tell you this time."
"Sending kisses from your wife, for you."
"Auf Wiedersehen."
I had no idea.
Oh, Paul.
How is all this going to work out, hmm?
Returning to a home,
having to go back to our normal being.
Where all everyone wants to know about
are the battles we've been in.
We'll be like travellers
who belong in another country elsewhere.
Sometimes I wonder...
Would...
Would I be happier with you here at camp?
Tjaden and Kropp.
And with Müller. He'd be sat with us.
And be eating fried potatoes.
Unpeeled.
Well...
That's enough of that.
How long until we finally get going again?
How long
until we finally get going again?
Franz?
Yes?
Tomorrow, we're up at six o'clock.
To look for some children.
What happened?
They should have arrived today.
A whole company.
How was it?
- Good.
- Yeah?
Yes.
Here.
Have a smell.
What's her name?
Eloise.
Eloise.
She had skin as white as milk.
Breasts...
- Hey.
- Huh?
I want to smell it too.
Kropp, let me have it.
- Here.
- Oh, my.
Give it to me.
A girl like that
never has dirt under her nails.
- No.
- At worst, some sand from the seashore.
Tjaden.
- Come on, pass it here.
- I bet she bathes twice a day.
Tjaden, give it back to me.
Sir.
Call the others.
There must have been a huge explosion.
Mine thrower cannons.
He's been blasted
right out of his uniform.
Was he one of those we've come here for?
No, they've only been missing
since yesterday.
He's been hanging there
for some time.
Not pleasant.
Don't get soft now, men.
How many are we looking for?
Sixty young recruits.
Breakfast is turnip bread.
Same at lunchtime, it's turnip bread.
I'm surrounded by turnip bread.
I can't face it any more.
Let me know when you find them.
I'm not going any further.
Gas.
There was gas here.
Shit!
Hello, madam.
I'm Kropp.
And you?
Mm.
Do you want to...
Do you want to come with me?
Not a problem.
Kat?
Kat.
Kat!
Shit.
- Flipping idiots.
- Uh huh.
Stupid boys.
They took their masks off too soon.
Germany will soon be empty.
COMPIÈGNE, FRANCE
8 NOVEMBER, 1918
General.
Well, Brixdorf, what's the latest?
The French are increasing the pressure.
Early this morning,
our reconnaissance intercepted orders
summoning entire divisions to Latierre.
A tank fleet is still reportedly
still stuck at Fernancourt.
Must mean an attack is likely.
The social democrats
will be the end of mankind, Brixdorf.
General?
I have just put a German delegation
to the armistice negotiations
on the train to Compiègne.
These people, Brixdorf,
are selling out our fatherland.
My orders are war.
And all the while that is the case,
I shall fight for every meter.
We have to hold on now
and wait for fresh troops.
In a few months, the incoming class
of recruits will be here.
The French are trying everything they can
to force
their completely unacceptable terms on us.
I will not capitulate.
We must strike without delay.
With all our might.
General.
From our position,
I have to be clear...
We all have to be clear...
For God's sake.
Shit.
Sir!
Soldiers, pack your bags,
roll up your bedding,
and wash your mess kits.
The whole regiment will advance
to the front firing position.
And I mean everyone
who's able to stand on two legs is going.
Line up, for God's sake.
You think the Frenchies will wait
for you to comb your pubes?
- Here we go again.
- Get moving!
- Where to?
- Where to? Where to?
Into battle.
Monsieur le Maréchal is awaiting you.
I'll come back for you.
Envious, huh?
I stand before you
in the hope that you will take
our presence here today as an opportunity
to take action to suspend all hostilities.
In the name of humanity,
I'm here asking you for an agreement
to an immediate cease-fire
for the entire duration
of our negotiating time
in order to spare
our nation's unnecessary depletion.
Matthias Erzberger,
head of the German delegation.
Weygand,
what do these gentlemen want?
I don't know.
Marshal Foch asks
what brings you gentlemen to him.
We are here looking forward to hearing
your proposal for an enduring cease-fire
that will include all those on the water,
on land, as well as in the sky.
I have no proposal
of this kind to make.
What does he mean by that?
I think he disliked the phrasing
of what you said.
Yes.
Good, then...
Monsieur Le Maréchal,
If you please,
we would like to know the conditions...
He wants you
to ask for it, formally.
Monsieur le Maréchal,
I am asking you for an armistice.
We are asking
for an armistice.
You have 72 hours
to accept our conditions.
You have 72 hours
to accept our conditions.
They are non-negotiable.
Seventy-two hours?
The war will continue until you sign them.
Monsieur le Maréchal,
in God's name,
don't let 72 hours pass us by here.
Thousands of lives depend on it.
Sign then.
Understood.
- Soldiers, we'll march.
- Sir.
Soldiers, march.
March, soldiers.
Soldiers, march.
Off you go, get out of here.
March, soldiers.
March.
Soldiers, march.
March, soldiers. Off you go.
Go, go, go!
Atención aux arbalètes...
Allez! Allez les gars!
Allez! Allez!
Keep going, Paul. Come on. Paul!
Allez!
Au renfort!
Putain, putain, non, non!
Get out!
What is that?
Get out!
- Here!
- Quick, quick, quick! Move it!
Get out!
There, there, look!
- What is it?
- Down there.
What is it?
Open fire!
Open fire!
All down!
Get down!
Boys, think fast! Be smart!
Get the hand grenades out!
Throw them in the vehicle
when they're on top of us.
Get out!
Get up!
Franz!
Follow me. Come on, follow me!
Franz!
Paul!
Paul.
Paul!
Open fire!
Retreat!
Retreat!
No, no, no! Don't shoot! Don't shoot! No!
Please, please, no! No, no, no!
No, wait, wait, don't shoot.
Don't shoot. Don't shoot. No.
- No, no!
- Albert.
Come on, come on.
Come on!
Keep going!
Where is Franz?
I've left Franz alone!
Katczinsky!
Take the machine gun and retreat.
We'll regroup in Eguisac,
two kilometres northeast.
I miss my comrades, sir. I miss them all!
I miss my mother, for God's sake.
Grenades, ammunition! Come on!
Paul, come on!
Get out of here! Let's go!
These aren't negotiations,
this is a dictate.
Maybe we should return to Spa
to consult with the general staff.
And what expectations
do you have for that?
Even if we end up
losing definitively after all,
we won't be worse off
than we are with this surrender.
Except for
a few hundred thousand extra deaths.
Alsace-Lorraine,
occupation of the Rhineland,
cannons, locomotives,
trains, and whatever else.
You are aware,
this is a total capitulation.
250,000 Americans
are landing each month in Europe.
Marne, Cantigny, Cambrai.
All of those lost.
All that's left
separating us from an armistice
is false pride, as I see it.
Thanks to you and your commanders,
we're here dealing with the mess
left by them.
I'm happy for you to depart here,
it's down to you.
We are remaining here.
It is winter.
Without trains and provisions,
Bolshevism will take over.
On their way home,
the men will die of hunger
instead of dying
with honour on the battlefield.
Honour?
My son was killed in the war.
He doesn't feel any honour.
Von Helldorf.
Please get a few copies
of the conditions of their proposal
and telegraph them to headquarters.
You inform the government.
We have 72 hours left here, gentlemen,
and during every minute
we waste by talking about it,
there dies another soldier.
Let us gain mercy where we can,
but for God's sake,
let's make peace.
Retreat! Retreat!
Run! Run!
Keep firing!
Shut up!
Shut up!
That's enough!
No, no, no.
Comrade.
Comrade, comrade.
So sorry.
So sorry.
I am so sorry. I am so sorry.
DUVAL, GÉRARD
TYPOGRAPHER
Your wife...
Your wife...
I promise... I promise...
I promise...
When were you born, Brixdorf?
1877, in June.
A summer child.
Yes.
What about your father?
My family live in Holstein
and he has a factory there.
Producing what?
Riding saddles, general.
Riding saddles.
Something that will always sell.
Your future is secure then.
I am indeed fortunate.
And?
Are you looking forward to going home?
- When we are no longer needed here?
- Yes.
After the war,
a position of responsibility awaits me.
- I will take over the business.
- Mhm.
Congratulations.
And you?
I'm a soldier.
My father was an officer in this regiment.
He fought in the three wars
under Bismarck.
He won all three of them.
In 1871, he marched on Paris
and when he returned, he was a hero.
I was too late in being born, Brixdorf.
It's been 50 years of no war.
What is a soldier without war?
Were you and your father close?
As a child, maybe.
A man is alone when born.
He lives alone
and on his deathbed is alone.
THE KAISER HAS ABDICATED
Come in.
- Von Helldorf. How can I help you?
- Hindenburg.
Open it immediately.
He urges us to sign.
- It's over!
- We're going home!
We're going home!
Back to our families.
In the name of all
who are living in a world of sin.
We are surrounded by it now in the filth.
Knock on the monastery's door
and you'll find
only thieves and scoundrels.
It's finally over.
The fat pigs finally get it.
They're negotiating at last.
We're going home soon, do you hear that?
Are there any sergeants left?
Chloroform the man,
for God's sake.
Bäumer.
Bäumer.
Bäumer.
Tjaden? Tjaden.
What happened?
Where have you been hit?
Above the knee.
Or somewhere down there.
I can't feel anything.
How far up is the shot?
I can't raise my head.
Ten centimetres, it seems.
You're going home soon, Tjaden.
- You think so?
- Yes, you are.
It's unlikely the police force
will have me, though.
God damn shit.
You can still do it.
Just wait and see.
I'm not going to let them amputate me.
I'm not living as a cripple in this world.
You won't have to.
There are others who are worse off
that they've patched up.
Oh, dear Paul.
I have something to give you.
Is he dead?
You must show braveness.
You're alive, remember?
For that, you have to be grateful.
For us.
- For those who didn't make it.
- That's enough.
Look here. You mustn't say that. Not you.
Good feeling, right?
Have a bit of that, then.
Yeah,
dry your socks out there.
The way the last summer was...
Right, none...
You see?
Not like the last one.
That was too...
You always blame me.
- We saw you!
- What did you see me doing?
Come on!
Nah, we know it was you.
Why is it always on me?
Do you have shit for brains?
Why won't you listen?
You have been given
a second company's provisions.
We are that second company!
So dish it out! Give it to us!
Kat?
- Kat!
- Paul?
Kat!
Paul!
- Paul!
- Kat, you were alive.
- Paul!
- You're alive!
Paul.
Tjaden was hit.
He's lying inside the church.
He'll get a double portion from us.
Yes.
Another one. In here.
- I thought you were dead.
- Ha!
At some point, we'll all die.
But not on the home stretch.
If you die before me, I'll kill you.
Ha!
Tjaden.
Tjaden.
Yes.
- Kat?
- Yes.
Kat.
I've soup here for you.
Have you brought cutlery?
Yes, we brought cutlery as well.
There you go. Eat up.
Stop, stop, Tjaden, Tjaden!
Stop!
We need help over here!
What made you do that?
Why would you?
It's over for me.
He's bleeding out!
Tjaden.
Tjaden.
What is it?
I've lost something.
Kat, do you speak French?
Mm.
S'il vous plaît. S'il vous plaît.
My mother always said
it was French I should learn.
Aha.
And the piano.
She also warned me of war.
She didn't want me to go.
"That's not for you," she always said.
"You'll be dead in no time."
I wanted to show that I could do it.
What use is that now?
"A couple of weeks, we'll be in Paris."
These past two years of grenades
can't be shed like an item of clothing.
- Paul.
- The stench will remain on us forever.
- Enough.
- Ludwig is dead. Franz is dead. Albert...
Is that to do with us?
They don't suffer any more.
Peace for them.
We're still alive.
Everything here is like a fever.
Not one person wants it
but suddenly it's there.
We didn't ask for it.
The others didn't ask for it.
But nonetheless it happened
and nonetheless half the world
is involved, mind you.
God looks down
at us murderers.
Yeah, well.
But what do I know?
Nothing.
I'm a pair of boots with a rifle.
Get some rest. We're the lucky ones.
Yes.
Kat?
Mm.
What did your son die of?
The pox.
I'm afraid of what's to come.
Don't be.
Henri.
Taste it.
Were they made today?
I'm sorry, sir. I don't think so.
Hmm.
Monsieur le Maréchal.
I'm listening.
The Kaiser
has abdicated.
Soldiers are refusing to obey orders.
Deserters are roaming the countryside.
The new government
will do everything it can
to fulfil the duties imposed on it,
but the population,
through no fault of its own,
faces hunger and anarchy setting in.
This is a disease
of the defeated, not of the victorious.
I don't fear it.
I reject any compromise.
I reject any compromise.
Monsieur le Maréchal, please.
Be fair to your opponent
or else this peace will be hated.
Fair?
You speak of fairness?
Sign it.
Let the minutes record.
The armistice here signed
shall take effect in six hours from now
at the eleventh hour, on the eleventh day
of the eleventh month.
Very good.
The war is over.
What are you going to do now?
What do you see here, Brixdorf?
The plains of Latierre, general.
Eguisac.
I see them too.
But also German soldiers
running away like cowards.
The French troops are farting
on our position in Latierre
and outside there's a train
crammed full of horse fuckers
who are selling the homeland off.
See to it that all recruits are withdrawn.
Have them all report here.
We're going to sort out this pile of shit!
Any communication
with the enemy remains prohibited.
Firstly, hostilities on the entire front
will be ceased this morning,
November 11th at eleven o'clock.
Secondly, the troops
will not cross the line reached
on this day at this hour.
The front line
shall remain unchanged past this hour.
All troops are to return to their station.
What time is it?
- Why aren't you asleep?
- Listen a minute.
It's so still.
I must be going deaf.
They've signed, Paul.
The war's over.
It's over.
Are you hungry?
I'm hungry.
Where are you going?
Come on,
before the bastard wakes up.
- What are you doing for Christmas, Paul?
- I don't know.
I'm gonna roast a goose.
Red cabbage, potatoes...
Then I'll light all the candles
and kiss my wife.
My God, Paul, she is beautiful.
Yeah?
- What does she look like?
- Well...
Long curly hair, dark.
And she's buxom and strong.
Yeah?
Christmas.
It's all so far away still.
No, it's not. It's really close.
We want another child. Or children, Paul.
Because what is Christmas
without children? It's nothing, really.
Ah?
You know when...
Once we're back home, then we will...
- Yeah?
- We must do something together.
The two of us together.
Something big, yeah?
Yeah, yeah.
What is it?
I'm a shoemaker, Paul. I repair shoes.
Ah? You know how to read, write.
You finished school.
Hasn't done me any good, though.
What are we gonna do?
Sole shoes together?
Are you trying to insult me?
I can't read my wife's letters even now.
You're going to university, Paul.
Or I'll shoot you right here.
My trousers are loose.
My trousers are loose.
You'll just have to eat something.
Soon we'll be home
then we can eat whatever we want.
Whatever we want.
It's your go.
If the farmer catches me again,
then he's bound
to shoot me down where I stand.
Just be careful of the damn dog too.
Yeah.
Ah?
Shh, shh... Hey, hey, hey.
Look.
It's really good.
Want some?
Shit.
Piece of garbage...
Stop!
Thief!
Kat! Run!
Run!
Asshole!
God damn!
We'll kill them, these sons of bitches.
Oh, crap.
- Look at this.
- What is it?
- A lucky shot.
- He hit the eggs!
Stop the flow.
Come on, get it in there.
There you go.
We can have an omelette.
No, we'll eat them now.
They're just as good.
Better than ever.
I won't be long.
Kat?
Kat?
Kat!
What happened?
We should leave.
Who fired the shot?
That little shit from the farm.
The farmer's son.
Kat, Kat.
What a mess.
How big is it?
Little finger.
I'll get the bullet out.
No. Give me a cigarette.
Let the medic do that.
They stuck me in a class
with seven-year-olds.
I'd begun shaving already.
Find me a word.
That trifle can rhyme with.
Mhm.
Nothing rhymes with trifle. Nothing.
Fucking shit.
Why the hell did this have to happen now?
- Come on, we need to move.
- Yeah.
Alright?
Kat?
Rifle.
Mhm?
Rifle rhymes with trifle.
When we get home, you're going
to make a new pair of boots for me.
I'm walking my feet to the bone.
Hey!
Wait!
Pull over!
Let us on!
Hey! Let us on!
Come on, will you?
This man needs care.
Where is the medic?
Could've spared yourself
the trouble.
Huh?
He's dead.
But it's... It's just a small bullet wound.
Yes, black blood. Straight into the liver.
The organs are poisoned.
Unconscious.
No.
He's dead.
I know what I'm doing.
Impossible. I was...
I was just talking to him.
He's unconscious.
He's unconscious.
See?
He simply had bad luck.
Right before the end.
Go on, keep going!
Keep going!
Keep going, come on!
This is it.
I'm going to tell him I'm going home.
It's over.
Attention!
Soldiers.
We stand here as brothers
in a world of enemies
and are forced to watch
as German social democrats
render our beloved people defenseless
by accepting a perfidious armistice.
Comrades.
Soon you will be going home
to your parents, wives and children.
The war is over.
After years of sacrifice and suffering,
you can now look forward to your reward.
To the reward of admiration
for all you have achieved here.
Ah, but comrades,
do you want to be welcomed
as soldiers and heroes on your return
or as weaklings
and cowards who tucked their tails in
when it really counted?
We're going home.
Soldiers.
We are about to attack them
with the utmost force and vehemence.
Latierre belongs in German hands.
We will seize the plains before 11:00 a.m.
and end this war with a merciless strike.
and make them see...
...we were victorious.
Onwards, with God on our side
as he was with our fathers before us.
I'm not going back
into battle. Not me!
Shut up!
- Let me go!
- Follow your orders!
Do as your told!
All of you, get back.
- Please, I didn't do anything!
- Aim!
- No! No!
- Fire!
Keep moving!
Come on!
Company, halt!
Rifle off!
- Fix bayonets!
- Fix bayonets and load!
What time is it?
Fifteen minutes to go.
It belonged to Lefèvre.
Poor bastard, he saved it for the end.
- He won't need it anymore.
- Thank you, sir.
Here's to you and to Lefèvre.
Well, it's good.
The nightmare is over.
Enemy attack! Enemy attack!
- In position!
- In position!
Fire!
Fire!
Throw the grenades!
Charge!
Please, no! No, no!
Cease fire!
It is 11:00 a.m.!
Cease fire!
Cease fire!
It is eleven o'clock.
A light!
Bring me a light! A light please!
Are you alright?
Yeah.
Well, then.
Start gathering, please.
Shortly after the start of hostilities
in October 1914,
the Western Front
froze into positional warfare.
By 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.
Almost 17 million people
lost their lives in the First World War.
ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT
Attack!
Go! Come on! Faster!
Heinrich, come on! Forwards! Come now!
To the ladders!
On my command!
Forwards!
Heinrich! Get out there!
All of you, go!
Come on! Get out of there!
Go, Heinrich! Get out there now!
Attack!
Attack!
Go! Forwards!
Heinrich!
Heinrich!
- Attack! Attack!
- Attack!
ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT
Come on!
NORTHERN GERMANY
SPRING 1917
THIRD YEAR OF WAR
Paul! Paul!
- Paul! Well?
- So?
Mhm.
- Well then?
- I don't know.
- Does he know we're all going?
- Yes, of course.
Staying at home?
My God, you're tied
to your mother's apron strings, my friend.
Give me it, I'll scribble something.
- It has to be signed by his parents.
- Well, someone. Come on, pass it here.
- That won't work, they'll find out.
- How will they?
Well?
Is his mother a pen pal of theirs?
- Give me your pen.
- Ah, I'm sorry.
Oh!
Ludwig.
You mustn't. Your father will hit you.
Have you got a better idea?
I'm not being left behind here.
Jawohl!
Congratulations, Private Bäumer.
We're going to the front.
A dead man walking.
You stand here
on the threshold of existence.
Remember this moment.
It is a great moment.
For in years to come, you will be judged
based on what you dared to become today.
The iron youth of Germany.
My friends,
we are fortunate
to be alive at a great time.
Your deeds will be the water
nourishing the growth
of a strong and noble route.
Stand still and listen up, Leinemann!
The Kaiser needs soldiers, not children.
I am certain that I will see
most of you again soon, here at home.
Your sword returned to its scabbard
with honour and respect.
A cross crafted from iron
proudly displayed upon your chest.
However, take heed of this.
In the darkest of hours,
let me assure you it will happen,
that prior to an attack,
you will harbour doubts.
But this is not the time
to concede to any mental weakness.
Any unsteadiness, any hesitation
is a betrayal of the fatherland!
For modern war is like a game of chess.
It is never about an individual soldier.
Our only care
is for the entirety of the body.
You have the chance to earn the right
to wear the uniforms you have been given.
And by going to the front line
in Flanders, we'll pierce the enemy.
And then you will, in a few short weeks,
finally march on Paris!
Yeah!
Our future,
the future of Deutschland,
lies in the hands
of its greatest generation.
My friends, that is you, you see!
Yeah!
Therefore, off to the camps
for the Kaiser, God, and the fatherland!
Yeah!
Next.
Next.
Next.
- Next.
- Next.
Bäumer, Paul.
53 Wiesengrund.
Born November 18th, 1899. Correct?
Jawohl, sir.
Next.
Paul.
Here. Your father can be proud of you.
Yes.
Is everything alright?
Yes. I'm eager to get on with it.
Move along.
Here he comes.
- Emil Hermann.
- Name and address.
- And the next.
- Excuse me.
It already belongs to someone.
Ah, yes. It was probably too small
for the fellow. Happens all the time.
Here. It's yours.
Thank you.
I remember it, you were.
Oh, Ludwig, will you be snatching away
all the ladies from us now?
Yeah.
My concern is that you don't shoot us.
♪ Girl, I love you, I do ♪
♪ But I can't yet marry you ♪
♪ Wait another year
Then it will come... ♪
She won't wait, Franz.
She won't do it.
You lady killer, you.
♪ Have a cup of tea
Sugar and coffee ♪
♪ And a glass of wine
And a glass of wine ♪
♪ Girl, I do love you, I do ♪
♪ But I can't yet marry you ♪
♪ Wait another year
Then it will come true ♪
LA MALMAISON, NORTHERN FRANCE
25 KM TO THE WESTERN FRONT
- Your name?
- Kropp. Albert Kropp, sir.
Do you like dirty girls,
Kropp?
Do you like dirty girls?
Uh, no. I don't, sir.
So why
do you sleep with one then?
Report for guard duty at three o'clock.
Gentlemen, you'll be fighting
in a godforsaken shithole.
And you'll kindly do so with a clean G98.
You will pamper it.
You will love it.
And damn it,
you will keep it as immaculate
as the thighs of the Holy Virgin.
Do we understand each other?
- Jawohl, sir!
- Jawohl, sir!
Welcome
to the 78th Reserve Infantry Regiment.
We are now on the Western Front.
- Welcome to Paris!
- Yeah! Welcome to Paris!
Ah!
Down there! Down there!
Down there! This way!
This way!
- Go on! Over there on the right!
- Damn it, what happened?
I have orders to hand over the company
to the front by 6:00 p.m.
That you may, but on foot.
You must give us the trucks, lieutenant.
With all due respect, I have orders...
Take the orders
and stick them up your arse.
I have 40 men here
who are dying in the mud.
Get out right now, will you?
Everyone, get up.
Come on, get on with it.
You heard the staff surgeon.
Faster, soldiers. Don't fall asleep here.
Keep moving.
- Franz Müller, correct?
- Yes.
The supreme army command
expects you to survive
at least six weeks of being here.
Would you like that,
in six weeks, to still be alive?
- Jawohl, sir.
- Then walk quicker
and stop dragging your feet
like you would do at home.
- Do you understand?
- Yes.
Hurry up.
We're not at a tea party here.
Gas!
- Gas!
- Gas!
Gas!
Gas!
Gas masks on!
That, gentlemen, was a fat pig.
If the French could aim better,
you could scrape us all off the road
with a spoon and bury us in a saucepan.
But one thing
that's as certain as amen in church.
Fat pigs don't carry gas.
Eyes straight ahead.
- Are you deaf?
- No, sir.
I was just trying to put my mask on.
Paul Bäumer,
you will almost certainly be dead by dawn.
You should eat something, man.
Attention! Gas masks off!
Gas masks off!
Not you.
You keep yours on
until guard duty tonight.
Both you and that useless pig.
Fall in line. March.
Fall in line!
Stay together and keep moving!
Come on, hurry up!
Go!
Come on. Paul, come on.
Give me your knapsack.
Next time, you carry mine.
Congratulations, soldiers.
This is your home now.
Helmets off.
I see the men have been enjoying
themselves in my absence, Steinberger.
We were under barrage all night.
The men are a mess.
I think dry boots
would be a good place to begin.
Oh, you'd rather we all drown then?
Everyone pitch in!
Come on, bail out the trench.
Get in line
to bail the water!
What are you waiting for, Bäumer?
Why are you still loitering here?
Go and help bail out the trenches.
Throw a dog a piece of meat.
Come on, all of you!
It will always snap it up.
Give a man power...
Man is a beast.
Drink.
Katczinsky, come over here.
Give us a hand.
Tonight, it'll be even worse.
Sorry.
Forget it.
Somehow, this isn't how I imagined it.
Just shut up, Ludwig.
My hands. I can't feel my hands any more.
Stick them down your underwear.
It always works for me.
That will make it shoot better,
will it?
- Did you hear that?
- Hear what?
That sound. Listen.
There's nothing there.
Our first French to shoot.
Calm down, Paulchen.
There's someone out there.
Who's there?
Hey.
Show yourself!
Oh, no, no, no!
I'm hit! I'm hit! I've been hit! Get off!
- No, Paul. No.
- What's going on?
You're fine.
What is it?
The others, over there. They shot at me.
They saw the flash of your muzzle.
Huh?
From now on, keep your heads down.
If you don't want to catch
the next bullet with your teeth,
move ten meters to the left.
Shoot, change cover.
Shoot, change cover. Understand?
Yeah.
Come on. Paul.
Take cover! Take cover! Alarm!
Here!
Bäumer, come here. Quickly, come on.
Into the bunker!
Inside! Inside! Inside!
"Be careful what you eat."
That's what my mother said.
- We'll always be together, won't we?
- Yeah.
We'll stick together. We'll always be.
I can't do this, Paul.
I can't do this. I need to go home.
I need to go home.
Creeping barrage.
What?
Every couple of minutes,
the artillery barrage
makes an advance forward.
And directly after that,
the infantry moves forward.
What are you saying, exactly?
That's how they come.
Where are you going?
I'll come back.
It's nearly over.
- No! Let me go.
- Stay where you are.
- Let me out of here. I want to get out.
- Calm down.
Calm yourself.
No!
Get out! Out! Out! Out!
Out!
Hey, that's Paul!
Albert!
Come here, we found Paul!
Paul!
Are you alright?
Is everything alright, Paul?
Come on. Paul, come on.
I'll help you.
Come on. Get up, will you? Sit down.
Are you injured?
Paul, are you injured?
- Can you hear me?
- We need help over here!
- See you later, Paul.
- We'll see you later, Paul.
Go on! Go on!
Here's another one.
We need help!
Steady.
Steady.
That's it.
I've got you.
Careful, careful.
Now we're in camp. Sit down.
You're alright.
Nice one. Let's have a look at you.
Hold still, hold still.
Yeah, you're going to be alright.
Right, put pressure on it.
Don't let him get up.
Katczinsky, back to work.
And you? Are you injured?
No.
Then start gathering.
Man, man, man!
No rest for the wicked.
It's the same every day.
Come on! Keep working!
We don't have all day.
Albrecht, Karl. Diepholz.
18 MONTHS LATER
September 14th, 1898.
Blumenthal, Samuel.
Dresden. November 6th, 1900.
Yesterday was his birthday.
Von Gallwitz, Gustav.
Osnabrück, June 20th, '99.
Götz Lüttwitz...
That's enough.
SUPREME ARMY COMMAND
7 NOVEMBER, 1918
- She's a looker.
- Let's see.
She's alright.
Herr Erzberger.
God be with us.
Once more, over 40,000 killed
in the last few weeks alone.
That should convince the general staff.
I think the gentlemen know it's over.
We all know that.
The General Field Marshal.
Mm.
CHAMPAGNE, FRANCE
OCCUPIED TERRITORY
- Thank you.
- Jawohl.
Paul, if we keep up this pace,
we won't have conquered France
for 180 years.
I worked it out.
Don't let them catch you, Kat.
Never.
Come on.
Explain to me
how this is worth dying for in your mind.
When you're starving, you'll do anything.
Qui va là?
Ho!
Oh, putain!
Attends je vais flinguer ce fumier!
Kat?
Kat?
Run!
Hey! Dirty Kraut!
- Rends-moi l'oie, ordure!
- Run!
Fumier!
- Just right.
- I told you.
Men, you are heroes.
Shut the door or the others will smell it.
Nice work.
I don't know. How am I
supposed to remember anything?
Come on, use your Prussian brain.
Here. Open-eyed and long-fingered.
Help me with the goose.
A piece of goose from the goose.
From France to Franz.
I want a wing.
Do I have to share?
Then I'll take the rest.
Fill up my bowl.
Come here, you blind hen.
Wide-mouth frog...
- Rest in peace in the drumfire.
- Ooh.
Oh, God.
You know I'll owe you forever for this.
Mm.
It's not bad, is it?
Yes. Mm.
- And you?
- Yes. Yes, good.
It's good, Paul.
Good, Kat.
Life is short.
- Where's Emil when you need him?
- Emil, bring in coffee and caviar!
Yes, and draw my foot bath as well.
I need a foot bath.
- Kat?
- What is it?
♪ The goose has been stolen
Give it back ♪
♪ Give it, give it, give it back ♪
♪ The goose has been stolen
Give it back ♪
- The farmer! The farmer!
- The farmer! Yes!
♪ Otherwise the farmer
Will shoot you with his rifle ♪
♪ Otherwise the farmer
Will shoot you with his rifle ♪
♪ Shoot you with his rifle ♪
Tjaden sits very quietly and says...
"Where is he?"
"Cross." I keep hearing, "Cross."
"My father was leader of Nazareth."
"Leader of Nazareth?"
enquires the teacher.
"What?" "Never heard of it."
"Tjaden, go back home
and ask again, will you?"
Next morning, Tjaden springs into school
and says to everybody,
"Please forgive me."
"My father wasn't the leader of Nazareth."
"My father was last seen with Nadja Roth."
Brilliant.
Look.
Mhm?
Regarder!
Hey! Hello!
Come here!
Fresh baguette!
For you!
Liverwurst, love!
Lots of love!
Franz. What are you doing?
- Take me with you.
- Come on!
I'd go over.
But he's making a fool of himself.
Oh, my.
You are very beautiful, my love.
Franz!
The dark-haired beauty
is for me!
What is he doing?
Franz!
Goodbye!
Goodbye, my friends!
Damn it.
If it was all over,
you know what I'd be doing?
There's no peace,
so it doesn't matter.
No, but if there was...
- We'd be surrounded by women again.
- Yeah, that's true.
I wouldn't put trousers on
for eight days.
I should really be spanking your backside
for talking about something like that.
What about you, Paul?
- No idea. Can't think.
- I'd stay with the Prussians.
You're an idiot, Tjaden.
Have you ever done
any peat digging?
Try it sometime.
Can't be worse
than digging trenches in Champagne.
It takes longer
than digging trenches in Champagne.
And you can't get away with not doing it.
In peacetime military life,
you have no concerns.
Mornings, food's there
or else you're not there.
And then you have the softest bed.
Every week with fresh sheets over it.
And then...
And before you know it, I'm a corporal.
Imagine that.
Me becoming a military policeman.
A Cognac here, a pint there.
A military policeman
is everyone's good friend. Everyone.
There's just one catch, Tjaden.
What's that?
You'll never be a corporal though,
will you?
You always make such useless comments.
What does it matter what you think anyway?
- Kat! Kat!
- Here!
- Kat!
- Here!
Kat!
"Darling one."
"You asked us
for a package of food to be sent."
"Four portions of sausage
are on their way with lard."
"A couple of pieces of cake."
"Sauerkraut and smoked wurst."
"Some more..."
- Hing? Hingfong?
- Hingfong.
"...and a cup of sugar."
"Eggs and a glass of plum jam in there."
"Don't eat too quickly as I don't want
to have to send more right away."
"I'd keep it away
from your comrades if I were you."
"My dear one."
"I must also ask a question of you."
"Have you started to save up any money?"
"Could you send some home
would you think?"
"People are saying the war
will be over soon." "Some people."
"And so it would be helpful
to have some saved up."
"You're probably thinking,
'What is she after?'"
"'How cheeky of her to ask.'"
"But I mean not to offend you."
"You know me, I can never get enough."
"But more, more." "I can't help it,
I always want some more."
"So make sure not to fall over
before you can come home."
"Karl Lemmer is in a hospital bed
somewhere in the East."
"Something with his stomach."
"And he was out there
for barely three weeks in total."
"Can't you also be sick,
with your rheumatism?"
"You've already played your role."
If only she could see
how you're sitting there, with your cigar.
"This Sunday, I'll visit the gra..."
"This Sunday,
I'll visit the grave of our boy."
"I'll make sure to read to him
as you remember he loved that."
"By next year, we'll be able to celebrate
his tenth birthday together."
"That's all I have to tell you this time."
"Sending kisses from your wife, for you."
"Auf Wiedersehen."
I had no idea.
Oh, Paul.
How is all this going to work out, hmm?
Returning to a home,
having to go back to our normal being.
Where all everyone wants to know about
are the battles we've been in.
We'll be like travellers
who belong in another country elsewhere.
Sometimes I wonder...
Would...
Would I be happier with you here at camp?
Tjaden and Kropp.
And with Müller. He'd be sat with us.
And be eating fried potatoes.
Unpeeled.
Well...
That's enough of that.
How long until we finally get going again?
How long
until we finally get going again?
Franz?
Yes?
Tomorrow, we're up at six o'clock.
To look for some children.
What happened?
They should have arrived today.
A whole company.
How was it?
- Good.
- Yeah?
Yes.
Here.
Have a smell.
What's her name?
Eloise.
Eloise.
She had skin as white as milk.
Breasts...
- Hey.
- Huh?
I want to smell it too.
Kropp, let me have it.
- Here.
- Oh, my.
Give it to me.
A girl like that
never has dirt under her nails.
- No.
- At worst, some sand from the seashore.
Tjaden.
- Come on, pass it here.
- I bet she bathes twice a day.
Tjaden, give it back to me.
Sir.
Call the others.
There must have been a huge explosion.
Mine thrower cannons.
He's been blasted
right out of his uniform.
Was he one of those we've come here for?
No, they've only been missing
since yesterday.
He's been hanging there
for some time.
Not pleasant.
Don't get soft now, men.
How many are we looking for?
Sixty young recruits.
Breakfast is turnip bread.
Same at lunchtime, it's turnip bread.
I'm surrounded by turnip bread.
I can't face it any more.
Let me know when you find them.
I'm not going any further.
Gas.
There was gas here.
Shit!
Hello, madam.
I'm Kropp.
And you?
Mm.
Do you want to...
Do you want to come with me?
Not a problem.
Kat?
Kat.
Kat!
Shit.
- Flipping idiots.
- Uh huh.
Stupid boys.
They took their masks off too soon.
Germany will soon be empty.
COMPIÈGNE, FRANCE
8 NOVEMBER, 1918
General.
Well, Brixdorf, what's the latest?
The French are increasing the pressure.
Early this morning,
our reconnaissance intercepted orders
summoning entire divisions to Latierre.
A tank fleet is still reportedly
still stuck at Fernancourt.
Must mean an attack is likely.
The social democrats
will be the end of mankind, Brixdorf.
General?
I have just put a German delegation
to the armistice negotiations
on the train to Compiègne.
These people, Brixdorf,
are selling out our fatherland.
My orders are war.
And all the while that is the case,
I shall fight for every meter.
We have to hold on now
and wait for fresh troops.
In a few months, the incoming class
of recruits will be here.
The French are trying everything they can
to force
their completely unacceptable terms on us.
I will not capitulate.
We must strike without delay.
With all our might.
General.
From our position,
I have to be clear...
We all have to be clear...
For God's sake.
Shit.
Sir!
Soldiers, pack your bags,
roll up your bedding,
and wash your mess kits.
The whole regiment will advance
to the front firing position.
And I mean everyone
who's able to stand on two legs is going.
Line up, for God's sake.
You think the Frenchies will wait
for you to comb your pubes?
- Here we go again.
- Get moving!
- Where to?
- Where to? Where to?
Into battle.
Monsieur le Maréchal is awaiting you.
I'll come back for you.
Envious, huh?
I stand before you
in the hope that you will take
our presence here today as an opportunity
to take action to suspend all hostilities.
In the name of humanity,
I'm here asking you for an agreement
to an immediate cease-fire
for the entire duration
of our negotiating time
in order to spare
our nation's unnecessary depletion.
Matthias Erzberger,
head of the German delegation.
Weygand,
what do these gentlemen want?
I don't know.
Marshal Foch asks
what brings you gentlemen to him.
We are here looking forward to hearing
your proposal for an enduring cease-fire
that will include all those on the water,
on land, as well as in the sky.
I have no proposal
of this kind to make.
What does he mean by that?
I think he disliked the phrasing
of what you said.
Yes.
Good, then...
Monsieur Le Maréchal,
If you please,
we would like to know the conditions...
He wants you
to ask for it, formally.
Monsieur le Maréchal,
I am asking you for an armistice.
We are asking
for an armistice.
You have 72 hours
to accept our conditions.
You have 72 hours
to accept our conditions.
They are non-negotiable.
Seventy-two hours?
The war will continue until you sign them.
Monsieur le Maréchal,
in God's name,
don't let 72 hours pass us by here.
Thousands of lives depend on it.
Sign then.
Understood.
- Soldiers, we'll march.
- Sir.
Soldiers, march.
March, soldiers.
Soldiers, march.
Off you go, get out of here.
March, soldiers.
March.
Soldiers, march.
March, soldiers. Off you go.
Go, go, go!
Atención aux arbalètes...
Allez! Allez les gars!
Allez! Allez!
Keep going, Paul. Come on. Paul!
Allez!
Au renfort!
Putain, putain, non, non!
Get out!
What is that?
Get out!
- Here!
- Quick, quick, quick! Move it!
Get out!
There, there, look!
- What is it?
- Down there.
What is it?
Open fire!
Open fire!
All down!
Get down!
Boys, think fast! Be smart!
Get the hand grenades out!
Throw them in the vehicle
when they're on top of us.
Get out!
Get up!
Franz!
Follow me. Come on, follow me!
Franz!
Paul!
Paul.
Paul!
Open fire!
Retreat!
Retreat!
No, no, no! Don't shoot! Don't shoot! No!
Please, please, no! No, no, no!
No, wait, wait, don't shoot.
Don't shoot. Don't shoot. No.
- No, no!
- Albert.
Come on, come on.
Come on!
Keep going!
Where is Franz?
I've left Franz alone!
Katczinsky!
Take the machine gun and retreat.
We'll regroup in Eguisac,
two kilometres northeast.
I miss my comrades, sir. I miss them all!
I miss my mother, for God's sake.
Grenades, ammunition! Come on!
Paul, come on!
Get out of here! Let's go!
These aren't negotiations,
this is a dictate.
Maybe we should return to Spa
to consult with the general staff.
And what expectations
do you have for that?
Even if we end up
losing definitively after all,
we won't be worse off
than we are with this surrender.
Except for
a few hundred thousand extra deaths.
Alsace-Lorraine,
occupation of the Rhineland,
cannons, locomotives,
trains, and whatever else.
You are aware,
this is a total capitulation.
250,000 Americans
are landing each month in Europe.
Marne, Cantigny, Cambrai.
All of those lost.
All that's left
separating us from an armistice
is false pride, as I see it.
Thanks to you and your commanders,
we're here dealing with the mess
left by them.
I'm happy for you to depart here,
it's down to you.
We are remaining here.
It is winter.
Without trains and provisions,
Bolshevism will take over.
On their way home,
the men will die of hunger
instead of dying
with honour on the battlefield.
Honour?
My son was killed in the war.
He doesn't feel any honour.
Von Helldorf.
Please get a few copies
of the conditions of their proposal
and telegraph them to headquarters.
You inform the government.
We have 72 hours left here, gentlemen,
and during every minute
we waste by talking about it,
there dies another soldier.
Let us gain mercy where we can,
but for God's sake,
let's make peace.
Retreat! Retreat!
Run! Run!
Keep firing!
Shut up!
Shut up!
That's enough!
No, no, no.
Comrade.
Comrade, comrade.
So sorry.
So sorry.
I am so sorry. I am so sorry.
DUVAL, GÉRARD
TYPOGRAPHER
Your wife...
Your wife...
I promise... I promise...
I promise...
When were you born, Brixdorf?
1877, in June.
A summer child.
Yes.
What about your father?
My family live in Holstein
and he has a factory there.
Producing what?
Riding saddles, general.
Riding saddles.
Something that will always sell.
Your future is secure then.
I am indeed fortunate.
And?
Are you looking forward to going home?
- When we are no longer needed here?
- Yes.
After the war,
a position of responsibility awaits me.
- I will take over the business.
- Mhm.
Congratulations.
And you?
I'm a soldier.
My father was an officer in this regiment.
He fought in the three wars
under Bismarck.
He won all three of them.
In 1871, he marched on Paris
and when he returned, he was a hero.
I was too late in being born, Brixdorf.
It's been 50 years of no war.
What is a soldier without war?
Were you and your father close?
As a child, maybe.
A man is alone when born.
He lives alone
and on his deathbed is alone.
THE KAISER HAS ABDICATED
Come in.
- Von Helldorf. How can I help you?
- Hindenburg.
Open it immediately.
He urges us to sign.
- It's over!
- We're going home!
We're going home!
Back to our families.
In the name of all
who are living in a world of sin.
We are surrounded by it now in the filth.
Knock on the monastery's door
and you'll find
only thieves and scoundrels.
It's finally over.
The fat pigs finally get it.
They're negotiating at last.
We're going home soon, do you hear that?
Are there any sergeants left?
Chloroform the man,
for God's sake.
Bäumer.
Bäumer.
Bäumer.
Tjaden? Tjaden.
What happened?
Where have you been hit?
Above the knee.
Or somewhere down there.
I can't feel anything.
How far up is the shot?
I can't raise my head.
Ten centimetres, it seems.
You're going home soon, Tjaden.
- You think so?
- Yes, you are.
It's unlikely the police force
will have me, though.
God damn shit.
You can still do it.
Just wait and see.
I'm not going to let them amputate me.
I'm not living as a cripple in this world.
You won't have to.
There are others who are worse off
that they've patched up.
Oh, dear Paul.
I have something to give you.
Is he dead?
You must show braveness.
You're alive, remember?
For that, you have to be grateful.
For us.
- For those who didn't make it.
- That's enough.
Look here. You mustn't say that. Not you.
Good feeling, right?
Have a bit of that, then.
Yeah,
dry your socks out there.
The way the last summer was...
Right, none...
You see?
Not like the last one.
That was too...
You always blame me.
- We saw you!
- What did you see me doing?
Come on!
Nah, we know it was you.
Why is it always on me?
Do you have shit for brains?
Why won't you listen?
You have been given
a second company's provisions.
We are that second company!
So dish it out! Give it to us!
Kat?
- Kat!
- Paul?
Kat!
Paul!
- Paul!
- Kat, you were alive.
- Paul!
- You're alive!
Paul.
Tjaden was hit.
He's lying inside the church.
He'll get a double portion from us.
Yes.
Another one. In here.
- I thought you were dead.
- Ha!
At some point, we'll all die.
But not on the home stretch.
If you die before me, I'll kill you.
Ha!
Tjaden.
Tjaden.
Yes.
- Kat?
- Yes.
Kat.
I've soup here for you.
Have you brought cutlery?
Yes, we brought cutlery as well.
There you go. Eat up.
Stop, stop, Tjaden, Tjaden!
Stop!
We need help over here!
What made you do that?
Why would you?
It's over for me.
He's bleeding out!
Tjaden.
Tjaden.
What is it?
I've lost something.
Kat, do you speak French?
Mm.
S'il vous plaît. S'il vous plaît.
My mother always said
it was French I should learn.
Aha.
And the piano.
She also warned me of war.
She didn't want me to go.
"That's not for you," she always said.
"You'll be dead in no time."
I wanted to show that I could do it.
What use is that now?
"A couple of weeks, we'll be in Paris."
These past two years of grenades
can't be shed like an item of clothing.
- Paul.
- The stench will remain on us forever.
- Enough.
- Ludwig is dead. Franz is dead. Albert...
Is that to do with us?
They don't suffer any more.
Peace for them.
We're still alive.
Everything here is like a fever.
Not one person wants it
but suddenly it's there.
We didn't ask for it.
The others didn't ask for it.
But nonetheless it happened
and nonetheless half the world
is involved, mind you.
God looks down
at us murderers.
Yeah, well.
But what do I know?
Nothing.
I'm a pair of boots with a rifle.
Get some rest. We're the lucky ones.
Yes.
Kat?
Mm.
What did your son die of?
The pox.
I'm afraid of what's to come.
Don't be.
Henri.
Taste it.
Were they made today?
I'm sorry, sir. I don't think so.
Hmm.
Monsieur le Maréchal.
I'm listening.
The Kaiser
has abdicated.
Soldiers are refusing to obey orders.
Deserters are roaming the countryside.
The new government
will do everything it can
to fulfil the duties imposed on it,
but the population,
through no fault of its own,
faces hunger and anarchy setting in.
This is a disease
of the defeated, not of the victorious.
I don't fear it.
I reject any compromise.
I reject any compromise.
Monsieur le Maréchal, please.
Be fair to your opponent
or else this peace will be hated.
Fair?
You speak of fairness?
Sign it.
Let the minutes record.
The armistice here signed
shall take effect in six hours from now
at the eleventh hour, on the eleventh day
of the eleventh month.
Very good.
The war is over.
What are you going to do now?
What do you see here, Brixdorf?
The plains of Latierre, general.
Eguisac.
I see them too.
But also German soldiers
running away like cowards.
The French troops are farting
on our position in Latierre
and outside there's a train
crammed full of horse fuckers
who are selling the homeland off.
See to it that all recruits are withdrawn.
Have them all report here.
We're going to sort out this pile of shit!
Any communication
with the enemy remains prohibited.
Firstly, hostilities on the entire front
will be ceased this morning,
November 11th at eleven o'clock.
Secondly, the troops
will not cross the line reached
on this day at this hour.
The front line
shall remain unchanged past this hour.
All troops are to return to their station.
What time is it?
- Why aren't you asleep?
- Listen a minute.
It's so still.
I must be going deaf.
They've signed, Paul.
The war's over.
It's over.
Are you hungry?
I'm hungry.
Where are you going?
Come on,
before the bastard wakes up.
- What are you doing for Christmas, Paul?
- I don't know.
I'm gonna roast a goose.
Red cabbage, potatoes...
Then I'll light all the candles
and kiss my wife.
My God, Paul, she is beautiful.
Yeah?
- What does she look like?
- Well...
Long curly hair, dark.
And she's buxom and strong.
Yeah?
Christmas.
It's all so far away still.
No, it's not. It's really close.
We want another child. Or children, Paul.
Because what is Christmas
without children? It's nothing, really.
Ah?
You know when...
Once we're back home, then we will...
- Yeah?
- We must do something together.
The two of us together.
Something big, yeah?
Yeah, yeah.
What is it?
I'm a shoemaker, Paul. I repair shoes.
Ah? You know how to read, write.
You finished school.
Hasn't done me any good, though.
What are we gonna do?
Sole shoes together?
Are you trying to insult me?
I can't read my wife's letters even now.
You're going to university, Paul.
Or I'll shoot you right here.
My trousers are loose.
My trousers are loose.
You'll just have to eat something.
Soon we'll be home
then we can eat whatever we want.
Whatever we want.
It's your go.
If the farmer catches me again,
then he's bound
to shoot me down where I stand.
Just be careful of the damn dog too.
Yeah.
Ah?
Shh, shh... Hey, hey, hey.
Look.
It's really good.
Want some?
Shit.
Piece of garbage...
Stop!
Thief!
Kat! Run!
Run!
Asshole!
God damn!
We'll kill them, these sons of bitches.
Oh, crap.
- Look at this.
- What is it?
- A lucky shot.
- He hit the eggs!
Stop the flow.
Come on, get it in there.
There you go.
We can have an omelette.
No, we'll eat them now.
They're just as good.
Better than ever.
I won't be long.
Kat?
Kat?
Kat!
What happened?
We should leave.
Who fired the shot?
That little shit from the farm.
The farmer's son.
Kat, Kat.
What a mess.
How big is it?
Little finger.
I'll get the bullet out.
No. Give me a cigarette.
Let the medic do that.
They stuck me in a class
with seven-year-olds.
I'd begun shaving already.
Find me a word.
That trifle can rhyme with.
Mhm.
Nothing rhymes with trifle. Nothing.
Fucking shit.
Why the hell did this have to happen now?
- Come on, we need to move.
- Yeah.
Alright?
Kat?
Rifle.
Mhm?
Rifle rhymes with trifle.
When we get home, you're going
to make a new pair of boots for me.
I'm walking my feet to the bone.
Hey!
Wait!
Pull over!
Let us on!
Hey! Let us on!
Come on, will you?
This man needs care.
Where is the medic?
Could've spared yourself
the trouble.
Huh?
He's dead.
But it's... It's just a small bullet wound.
Yes, black blood. Straight into the liver.
The organs are poisoned.
Unconscious.
No.
He's dead.
I know what I'm doing.
Impossible. I was...
I was just talking to him.
He's unconscious.
He's unconscious.
See?
He simply had bad luck.
Right before the end.
Go on, keep going!
Keep going!
Keep going, come on!
This is it.
I'm going to tell him I'm going home.
It's over.
Attention!
Soldiers.
We stand here as brothers
in a world of enemies
and are forced to watch
as German social democrats
render our beloved people defenseless
by accepting a perfidious armistice.
Comrades.
Soon you will be going home
to your parents, wives and children.
The war is over.
After years of sacrifice and suffering,
you can now look forward to your reward.
To the reward of admiration
for all you have achieved here.
Ah, but comrades,
do you want to be welcomed
as soldiers and heroes on your return
or as weaklings
and cowards who tucked their tails in
when it really counted?
We're going home.
Soldiers.
We are about to attack them
with the utmost force and vehemence.
Latierre belongs in German hands.
We will seize the plains before 11:00 a.m.
and end this war with a merciless strike.
and make them see...
...we were victorious.
Onwards, with God on our side
as he was with our fathers before us.
I'm not going back
into battle. Not me!
Shut up!
- Let me go!
- Follow your orders!
Do as your told!
All of you, get back.
- Please, I didn't do anything!
- Aim!
- No! No!
- Fire!
Keep moving!
Come on!
Company, halt!
Rifle off!
- Fix bayonets!
- Fix bayonets and load!
What time is it?
Fifteen minutes to go.
It belonged to Lefèvre.
Poor bastard, he saved it for the end.
- He won't need it anymore.
- Thank you, sir.
Here's to you and to Lefèvre.
Well, it's good.
The nightmare is over.
Enemy attack! Enemy attack!
- In position!
- In position!
Fire!
Fire!
Throw the grenades!
Charge!
Please, no! No, no!
Cease fire!
It is 11:00 a.m.!
Cease fire!
Cease fire!
It is eleven o'clock.
A light!
Bring me a light! A light please!
Are you alright?
Yeah.
Well, then.
Start gathering, please.
Shortly after the start of hostilities
in October 1914,
the Western Front
froze into positional warfare.
By 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.
Almost 17 million people
lost their lives in the First World War.
ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT