Depictions of The Great War: Film and Graphic Novel

Since translating a French military citation for a friend, I’ve been on a bit of a World War I jag. Both of my grandfathers served in the American military during the Great War. Yet, luckily for me, neither served as soldiers. One worked in a Washington bureau; the other drove an ambulance. They thus escaped their tours of duty relatively unscathed. I’ve long planned to read the latter’s copy of All Quiet on the Western Front. However, I recently learned that Netflix is currently offering an acclaimed German film based on the book. At nearly the same time, I was browsing the French collection in my local library and came across an intriguing graphic novel, Madame Livingstone, about a Belgian World War I pilot, fighting the Germans in the Congo. Below are my reviews of both accounts.

All Quiet on the Western Front

The novel All Quiet on the Western Front, published in 1929, was one of the first books to depict WWI in a critical light. Its German author, Erich Maria Remarque, based the story on his own experience as a German soldier fighting on the front lines in northern France. Remarque did not intend to make a political statement with this early book, which quickly became an international bestseller. He simply wanted to memorialize some of what he and other German veterans had experienced both during and after the war.

In 1930, Lewis Milestone adapted Remarque’s novel for the big screen and won Oscars for best picture and best director. The story was also recrafted for American television in 1979. The latest incarnation, directed by German filmmaker Edward Berger, premiered at the Toronto Film Festival in September and is now available on Netflix. If you appreciate war movies or would like to know more about World War I, I highly recommend this adaptation. It is currently on the Oscars shortlist for Best International Feature Film.

Ten million civilians and nearly the same number of military personnel lost their lives during the 4 years of fighting that spanned World War I, 1914-1918. Berger’s film focuses on the first part of Remarque’s book—the conditions faced by soldiers who were sent to the front lines. In an era where clothing, gear, and equipment were primitive compared to today, surviving all kinds of weather conditions in the barren battlefields of northern France was extraordinarily challenging even during the monotonous days and weeks that passed between battles. Add to that a shortage of food, an inexperienced fighting force, the constant threat of artillery fire and bombardment, and a poorly trained and equipped medical corps.

During the war, more than 700 million artillery and mortar rounds were fired on the Western Front, an estimated 15% of which failed to explode. It didn’t take long before each side found itself defending and advancing in a muddy, corpse-infested, minefield. Two million Germans lost their lives. Fifty percent of all Frenchmen between the ages of 19 and 22 at the start of the war were dead before the end. Yet, governments on all sides of the conflict characterized their involvement as patriotic and necessary. Berger’s novel clearly called this stance into question. By 1933, Nazi propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels, declared Remarque’s writing to be “unpatriotic” and banned all of his books.

The unparalleled loss of blood and treasure somewhat explains France’s early capitulation after Germany’s 1940 invasion. No one wanted to engage in another disastrous conflict. Scenes from All Quiet on the Western Front render such reasoning palpably judicious. They also elucidate the tormented thinking of absurdist philosophers like Albert Camus, who struggled to find meaning in human existence after decades of pointless casualties on the European continent.

I give Berger’s All Quiet on the Western Front, 5 out of 5 stars.

Madame Livingstone

Popular films and books that cover World War I usually confine their narratives to the trenches of northern France. Yet the conflict took place in many parts of the world, most notably the European colonies in Africa. Madame Livingstone, illustrated by Barly Baruti and written by Christophe Cassiau-Haurie, features the Anglo-Belgian offensive against Germany for control of Lake Tanganyika. This strategic body of water is the longest freshwater lake in the world. It is located between what was once the Belgian Congo to the west (now the Democratic Republic of Congo) and German East Africa to the east (now Tanzania).

While the setting and other elements of the story are factual, many of the characters, including the book’s namesake, Madame Livingstone, are fictional. This intriguing central character is a mixed-race native of the Congo who wears a kilt and claims to be a descendant of David Livingston, the Scottish missionary and 19th-century explorer. His comrades in arms refer to him as Madame due to the nature of his chosen attire. Livingstone becomes the invaluable guide and partner of Gaston Mercier, a pilot in the Royal Belgian Air Force. Their primary mission is to sink a German ship called the Graf von Goetzen that was used by the Germans to ferry troops and cargo between Kigoma and Bismarckburg (now Kasanga, Tanzania).

The storyline definitely held my attention but I found Cassiau-Haurie’s scenario to be a bit lacking. As I read, I continually wondered how much of the story was true and how much was invented. My frequent sorties to Wikipedia only partially addressed my many questions. The book includes a reference guide at the end that clarifies some of the historical elements. The last page reveals the inspiration for the book’s plot. Illustrator Barly Baruti was born Alexis Livingstone and has always wondered about the origins of his family name.

As for Baruti’s illustrations, it’s no wonder that he is perhaps the best-known African comic artist in Europe. Baruti’s frames capture Africa’s exotic magnificence and visually telegraph the tensions that existed between the native population and their European occupiers. In contrast to the putrid and perilous wasteland of the Western Front, the conflict in Africa seems tame and alluring. If it weren’t for the brutal and unjust domination of the local population, I can almost imagine myself enlisting in the fight.

I give Bartui and Cassiau-Haurie’s Madame Livingstone 4 out of 5 stars.