All Quiet on the Western Front | 2022 | R | – 2.9.5

Why is “All Quiet on the Western Front” rated R? The MPAA rating has been assigned for “strong bloody war violence and grisly images.” The Kids-In-Mind.com evaluation includes sexual references, some non-sexual partial male nudity, many battle sequences that show wounded and dead soldiers with very bloody and gory wounds, several scenes of hand-to-hand combat with bloody deaths, some arguments and at least 1 F-word and other strong language. Read our parents’ guide below for details on sexual content, violence & strong language.

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Remake of the 1930 eponymous movie, based on the 1928 novel by Erich Maria Remarque: We follow a young German soldier (Felix Kammerer) as he enthusiastically arrives on the western front with friends and schoolmates during WWI, thinking they’re seeking glory. As he fights and kills every day to gain mere strips of desolate land that will be lost the next day, his comrades keep dying and the war is revealed to be utterly pointless. Also with Albrecht Schuch, Aaron Hilmer, Moritz Klaus, Adrian Grünewald, Edin Hasanovic, Daniel Brühl, Thibault de Montalembert, Devid Striesow and Andreas Döhler. Directed by Edward Berger. In German and French with English subtitles. [Running Time: 2:28]

All Quiet on the Western Front SEX/NUDITY 2

 – A young man runs toward three women walking and pulling a cart nearby, he helps carry a bag for them and walks with them; when he returns later, he describes one of the young women and passes a scarf she gave him to other soldiers and they all smell it (it’s implied they had sex).
► A young man speaks to a woman in a poster and kisses the picture on the lips. A man asks a soldier if he “Likes dirty girls,” when examining his rifle and tells him that it should be as spotless as “The Holy Virgin’s thighs.” A man tells a sexually suggestive joke about VD.
► Young men are shown wearing underwear and we see their bare chests, abdomens and backs as they are assigned uniforms. Two soldiers sit on latrines with their pants pulled down (their bare knees and partial thighs are seen).

All Quiet on the Western Front VIOLENCE/GORE 9

 – Soldiers are ordered out of a trench and as they climb over the edge and onto the field they are fired upon and several fall dead (blood spurts); one injured soldier calls to another soldier that crawls toward him and the first is shot in the head and killed (blood spurts from the wound), other soldiers charge toward enemy soldiers and several are stabbed with bayonets. Soldiers are ordered out of a trench and they charge toward enemy soldiers where they shoot and slash each other; one soldier slashes another with a shovel and another soldier shoots the injured soldier in the head (we see blood). With gunfire and explosions, we see soldiers being struck and thrown into a trench while others are struck in the trench (blood sprays and spurts). A soldier’s gun jams and he draws a shovel from his belt, rushes an enemy soldier and hits him a couple of times, stabbing him in the chest (we hear a squish and see blood).
► Soldiers with flamethrowers are shown firing giant flames into a foxhole and setting many men on fire; we hear screaming and see bodies engulfed in flames, one young man is chased, surrounded, and when he gets on his knees and pleads with enemy soldiers, they spray him with flames and he thrashes while burning until he dies. A soldier aims his gun at another soldier in a hole in the ground, the soldier with the gun is blown off the edge of the hole by an explosion and the soldier in the hole charges toward him, pins him and stabs him repeatedly in the chest with a knife, in an extended scene; the injured man gasps and gurgles blood and the other soldier panics trying to block out the sounds of the man dying, opens the injured man’s coat and presses a bandage against one wound while apologizing; after the man dies, the soldier retrieves his identifications and personal photos. A wounded man in a field hospital screams as his arm is amputated without sedative; we see blood and hear the saw blade tearing at the flesh and bone. An injured man waiting for treatment stabs himself in the neck several times with a fork; two other men press on the wound as it gushes blood and the man dies. A soldier that refuses to go back to battle is grabbed and shot dead by other soldiers. Soldiers march toward a trench where they are fired on by a machine gun; they attack men in the trench and one soldier beats another soldier with his helmet until his face is left bloody and crushed, the attacking soldier fights with another soldier, and he is held with his face in a mud puddle until he hits the man holding him with a rock; they struggle and tumble down stairs and one man is stabbed through the back with a long bayonet (we see the bloody hole and he collapses gasping).
► Artillery fire throws dirt into a trench and soldiers are ordered into a bunker where they hear more explosions and are told that ground troops are coming; they panic when the ground rumbles and the bunker begins to cave in on them, one soldier runs toward the exit and is blown up causing the others to panic and run as the walls collapse and we later see soldiers pinned under rubble (one lies dead and another is rescued). The ground rumbles and soldiers line up at the ledge of a trench with guns trained on approaching tanks; they shoot at the tanks without effect and the tanks fire back causing damage and throwing soldiers into the air; the tanks continue moving toward the trench and when they cross it, one tank rolls through it crushing a soldier under it (blood spurts and we see the body crushed). Soldiers march through a bombed out area toward the front and a commander yells “Gas!” so they scramble to put on their gas masks; one soldier is reprimanded for taking too long and told to leave the mask on while they march. Soldiers place explosives in the treads of a tank and when they blow up, the tank stops; they open a side hatch and throw another explosive inside and when it blows up, soldiers from inside the tank climb out and are shot. A man goes into the woods to urinate and when he turns around we see someone threatening him with a gun; we hear a gunshot and see the man with a bloody wound on his abdomen; another man helps him back to a field hospital where he is pronounced dead.
► Many scenes show burned out and bombed out expanses of land strewn with bloody bodies with pools of mud and flames burning; during one scene we hear gunshots and see a dead body struck a few times, causing it to move from the impact. Two soldiers in a trench hear movement outside and prepare to shoot; one of the soldiers shoots at something, he is then shot at and struck in the helmet knocking him back and onto the ground (he is uninjured). A field surgeon directs trucks transporting new recruits and tells them to get out and walk because he has men “dying in the mud”; we see his jacket front and sleeves covered with blood. After bombing attacks we hear men groaning and crying in the distance.
► A soldier finds a room filled with many dead soldiers (flies buzz around them) and another soldier says they took their gas masks off too soon, while another remarks about them being children. A partial body is shown dangling from a tree limb; it appears to be missing at least part of one leg and blood is seen on the clothing. A soldier approaches a body face down in a trench and we see that the body is missing the lower part of one leg (blood and tissue are seen) and when he is rolled over we see blood on his head and face; the first man cries over him and tries to button his coat. Bodies are shown wrapped in barbed wire in a few scenes and we see bloody wounds and missing limbs a few times. A body is shown partially submerged in muddy water. A pile of bodies is seen and soldiers remove their clothing, lay them on the ground and we see blood on their wounds through their undergarments; the clothing is bundled up and we next see them swishing in giant tubs of bloody water being cleaned and then being mended. Rows and piles of coffins are shown near deep ditches in a couple of scenes where fallen soldiers are buried. A few horses are shown dead and lying on their sides.
► Several soldiers eat voraciously, moan and chew loudly in a few scenes. Two soldiers sit on latrines with their pants pulled down (no waste is shown). A man is shown with a large scar on his face. A man urinates in a urinal on a train and when the train lurches to a stop he complains about getting some urine on his slipper (we see a dribble that he wipes off). A young man vomits in a trench and we see goo from a distance. Many mice skitter on a floor as the ground rumbles. A man throws a cooked bird on the floor for a dog. After being shot at, a pouch a young man carries around his waist containing eggs leaks egg matter. What looks like an animal carcass hangs from a hook and chain.
► A soldier is ordered to remove and collect identification from dead soldiers in a few scenes. A soldier sneaks into a farm to steal a goose while another soldier stands outside the gate; we hear a dog barking and scuffle as the soldier charges out of the farmyard with the owner yelling and shooting at him, as he and the other soldier run away (no one is struck). A soldier sneaks into a farmyard and steals duck eggs from a coop; a young boy discovers the soldier, locks the door of the coop but the soldier breaks another door open and runs away with another soldier while being shot at.
► Soldiers are shown bailing out a flooding trench as rain falls and a commander says, “We’ll get hit hard tonight.” A man yells and complains about people being cowards if they are going to stop fighting after a war is declared over. A young man says, “I can’t feel my hands anymore” (from the cold) and an older soldier tells him to put his hands down his pants to warm them up. Young men talk about getting documents signed by their parents to allow them to enlist in the army and one is mocked by his friends, saying that he is tied to his mother’s apron strings before forging a signature. Soldiers chant, “For Kaiser, God and Fatherland” in a few scenes. We hear that a man’s young son died from smallpox. German and French representatives meet to negotiate a cease-fire in a couple of scenes and one representative pleads with the other to stop the bloodshed.

All Quiet on the Western Front LANGUAGE 5

 – At least 1 F-word, 2 sexual references, 11 scatological terms, 4 anatomical terms, 15 mild obscenities, name-calling (fat pigs, bonehead, coward, dumpling, cheeky, cripple, bastard, nightmare), exclamations (blimey, bloody, shut-up, calm down, oo-la-la), 13 religious exclamations (e.g. my God, may for Christ’s sake, God be with us, in God’s name, for God’s sake, oh God, oh my God). | profanity glossary |

All Quiet on the Western Front SUBSTANCE USE

 – A man drinks wine with a meal and throws a small amount on the floor a couple of times, and two men drink liquor in a trench celebrating the end of a war. Men smoke cigarettes in a few scenes and a man has a cigar in his mouth.

All Quiet on the Western Front DISCUSSION TOPICS

 – War, WWI, despair, army generals, doubt, weakness, power, humanity, capitulation, armistice, bravery, smallpox, anarchy, famine, sacrifice.

All Quiet on the Western Front MESSAGE

 – Wars are very stupid and pointless and those who are lucky to stay alive for a while can become brutish.