The Netflix hit All Quiet on the Western Front, released on the streamer last October, has been nominated for an unexpected 14 BAFTA Awards and nine Academy Awards. The film, which is based on the 1929 novel of the same name by Erich Maria Remarque, is set in 1917 at the height of World War I and revolves around the epic story of enlisted Imperial German Army soldier, Paul Baumer (Felix Kammerer), and his hometown best friends as they come to terms with the harsh realities of war and loss. As Paul and his buddies Kat (Albrecht Stanislaus), Albert (Aaron Himler), and Franz (Moritz Klaus) are deployed to Northern France, their romantic visions of battling heroically for their country are shattered almost immediately as they find themselves embroiled in deadly trench warfare with the French forces. In the end, Paul's character has a tragic demise that concludes a deft story arc of a green and wide-eyed new recruit to a battle-tested veteran who is trying to make it out alive.
What Happens at the End of 'All Quiet on the Western Front'?
After a long and brutal war that sees the loss of their good friends, Franz and Albert, Paul and Kat hear the news that a treaty has been signed by the French and German leaders and that the war is about to come to an end. Happy and looking forward to returning home to their loved ones, the two make their way home on foot but need food as rations have been depleted and neither has eaten in days. Along the way, Paul and Kat stop at a farm in the countryside where they had stolen a goose from earlier in the film that they could all eat. Paul jumps the wall and goes to steal more food from the farm when he is caught by the farmer's young son who points a rifle at Paul just as he is taking a handful of eggs from the chicken coop. Paul is able to escape, but the two are forced to make a beeline for the tree lining as shots ring out from behind them. After the two friends believe that they are free and clear of the farmer and his son, they relax. Paul runs far ahead of Kat who is surprised when he turns around to find that the boy has tracked him down and stands just a few feet away from him. The boy fires a single round, wounding Kat. Paul scurries back to retrieve his friend and he helps Kat all the way to a local hospital where he succumbs to the gunshot wound.
Paul Is Forced Into One Final Battle
On November 11, 1917, an armistice is signed declaring that the war will officially end at 11 AM. Exhausted, hungry, and shell-shocked, Paul and the rest of the German soldiers who appear to have survived the bloody war are confronted by the German General, Friedrichs (David Striesow), who orders them back into battle despite knowing that the war is all but over. The general rationalizes his orders by trying to appeal to the men's sense of German pride, and even though they have lost the war to the French, the troops, under his command, will go out on a high note by defeating the French forces in one final battle before the armistice is to take place in just a few short hours. The men are less than enthusiastic about going back into battle without any real reason. Several of the men refuse to return to the battlefield and are executed by German soldiers. Paul, meanwhile, returns for one final skirmish with what remains of the French army in the trenches.
Paul Meets a Tragic End Just Seconds Before the War Ends
Upon returning to the battlefront, Paul goes ballistic, using every last drop of energy and courage that he can muster while killing a slew of French soldiers. He ends up in a trench where he meets an enemy soldier face-to-face and the two begin to battle hand-to-hand. The scuffle results in Paul being wounded as the two stumble down a stairwell into an underground tunnel opening. As Paul and the French soldier look at each other, bruised, wounded, and covered in mud and blood, they're almost resigned to calling the fight a draw. Both men put their hands down in what appears to be a stalemate, where each will go their separate ways and wait until the armistice takes effect in just a matter of minutes. Suddenly, a knife bursts through Paul's chest as another French soldier sidled up behind Paul and stabbed him with a bayonet just seconds before the clock strikes 11, and the armistice takes effect. Paul falls to his knees where he is left to die by the two Frenchmen.
The Final Scene Drives Home the Film's Themes
A young, fresh-faced German recruit is walking through the trenches collecting all the dead soldiers' dog tags so that their bodies can be identified and next of kin can be notified of their death. As the boy comes across a mud-covered Paul, who has made it up the stairs and back into the trenches, we see it is the young soldier who Paul had saved during an earlier battle. He leans down and sees a white cloth in Paul's lifeless hand. It's the cloth that his good friend Franz had given him back in the early stages of the war when they were still naive and idealistic about their futures. It belonged to Franz's girlfriend back home and the two had lifted it to their nose whenever they felt in need of being reminded of home. The German soldier takes the cloth and goes on about his business. The silence is poignant and eerie as a shot of Paul and dozens of other dead soldiers are framed in relative silence completing a tragic story arc of a young man whose preconceived notions of the glory of war and the Fatherland have ended with him being counted as just another statistic in a horrible war.