All Quiet on the Western Front (1930)

Save your money for something good and enjoyable

One of my all time favorites.

This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

Can't believe it took till now for me to see this wonderful film. Although made in 1930, it has a currency which did not go unnoticed. Other films, with similar themes, have not equalled or captured so tenderly the complete waste of young minds, bodies and lives that war demands. The film stresses the falsehoods which continue to be told to trick young "adventures" into sacrificing all to the theatre of war and the pressure that is put on them if they dare resist. The film emphasises the impact on the stoic but tortured families who are waiting back home, waiting for bad news which can come at any hour or if their loved ones do come home, the families are "gifted", often, the role of lifetime carers of their damaged husbands, fathers, brothers, sons and friends and now we can add returning women to the list. AQOTWF is one of the best anti-war movies ever made and one which matches Gallipoli for its poignancy. Highly recommend.

Proof that Hollywood was making left wing anti war propaganda since it's birth.The movie has gotten stellar reviews but rankly, it's dated. The exposition is overly dramatic and heavy handed as is the direction.Plus the young soldiers all have freaking Brooklyn accents! They are supposed to be German! A movie like this would never make money today and it would get summarily panned.If you want to see a great war film, try Hacksaw Ridge or Saving Private Ryan.

---spoiler---Yes, the movie is about that and that only. There is not another message for us. Maybe it is the only disadvantage of the film, that sending its message plainly, other than telling it secretly. In the beginning of the film, the characters were having a lively high school time, seeing everything as naive-youngsters, but then with the flame of the youth they decided to join the army with having only heroic dreams. They were shocked in the battlefield. Because there were only torturing by elders, hunger, fatigue, blood, death and horror. The scene of being in a hole with the enemy is a wonderful way to point out the incoherence of war. It was depicted so well that thinking about that enemy had dreams, a family, people who'd wait for him just like everybody else, in other conditions he would not even had an argument with him, and because of the governments would not agree on something, he must kill the enemy. Themetaphor of shoe is perfect. The young man with the most beautiful shoes had lost his legs. The high school friends of him who normalized the situation, asked to him forgive away the shoes to them. A lot of people have these shoes, some of them dies, some of them lose legs. We do not blame the shoes, they are not unlucky, the wearers are not unlucky, all the blame is on the war. The character who turned home for a while told everyone that they were losing the war had different reactions from the society. The elderboldy said that they should going to the Paris, the children who were at his age before the war, told him that he was a coward and traitor. The tried to tell that war brings only death but nobody listened to him and he realized the only ones who understand him were his mates from front line. Front line was his home. Despite the fact that movie was filmed 86 years ago, bombing and war scenes are wonderful. Although there are many followers, it is the most fascinating movie bout anti-war propaganda.---spoiler---

All Quiet on the Western Front is the first great non-silent anti-war movie and arguably the most powerful one to date. Based on the critically acclaimed homonymous novel by Erich Maria Remarque, it portraits the transformations a young German soldier suffers during the World War I: the innocence before the war and the promise of everlasting glory, the shock with reality and the realization of his own mortality and of the hypocrisy of war and finally the return to the world away from the trenches, a world that didn't stop to wait for him.Full of symbolisms, violence and impressive camera work, the whole film is a cinematographic masterpiece. The viewer is placed directly in the battlefield to the point he can almost grasp the blood-soaped earth of the trenches and smell the rotten corpses in no-man's land.There's two layers I can find in this movie: the first one tells us about the physical destruction endured in a war – hunger, dirt, explosions, amputations, diseases, death… The film does not try to hide the truth, war is ugly and dirty, it is constant suffering and painful. If the first layer is strong enough to create a strong impression on the viewer, the second one is even more powerful: the psychological breakdown the soldiers experience is masterfully portrayed. The excitement turns into doubt, the doubt into disgust, the disgust into anger and the anger into complete numbness. A young promising student is gradually transformed into a soulless killing machine.Also the acting deserves to be mentioned. The entire cast delivers stand up performances, especially Louis Wolheim and Lew Ayres who depict masterfully two generations united by war.The only flaw I could find on this is the strong American accent on the few German words spoken, fact that can distract a bit especially on the beginning of the movie.Overall, this is an overwhelming experience and a mandatory watch to every war film lover!