All Quiet on the Western Front (1929/30)

PLOT SUMMARY:
A young soldier faces profound disillusionment in the soul-destroying horror of World War I.

AWARDS:
Wins:  Best Picture; Best Director (Lewis Milestone)

Nominations: Best Writing; Best Cinematography

BOB:
This was the first movie that was a re-watch for me, but I probably saw it when I was about 15, so I had a pretty vague recollection of the film.  And wow, I did not remember how much of a downer this one was!  Interestingly, it only took the Academy two years to repeat genres with its Best Picture prize, as you'll remember that Wings was also a war movie.  But the similarities really end there.  Wings definitely romanticized war, as there were very few on screen deaths and many more scenes that made war seem exciting at times, but All Quiet on the Western Front showed the other side of the coin, often explicitly showing battlefield fatalities.  After watching these vastly different views on World War I, did you have a preference between the two?

AMANDA;
I liked All Quiet on the Western Front better than Wings. I thought it was more realistic, and the special effects were more impressive. You're right though; this one is definitely a downer! There were a couple parts that were fun and playful, but overall it focused on the dark parts of the war. They showed the psychological impact that the war had on soldiers in addition to the physical trauma that is more obvious. One part that really struck me was when the main character, Paul, went home on leave, he had a really hard time adjusting to life away from the war. He was frustrated because everyone back home had strong opinions about the battle strategy even though they didn't really know what was going on. In one scene, his former teacher was romanticizing the war to convince students to enlist (this is how Paul was persuaded to become a soldier). Paul refused to support this propaganda.

BOB: 
I'm glad you brought that scene up because I was going to mention it next.  The second scene with that teacher in the classroom was easily my favorite of the movie.  As you somewhat alluded to, Paul really was swept up in the patriotic fervor from his teacher's speech when he was in school.  His reaction could not have been more different when he was back home for a brief visit.  I found the juxtaposition of those two scenes to be very moving.  As one can probably guess due to the more realistic depiction of war in this film, it does not have a very happy ending.  Without spoiling too much, how did you like it? 

AMANDA:
The ending of the movie fits with the rest of the film – it’s dark and depressing. There’s a little glimmer of hope right before the very end, but it’s quickly extinguished. That being said, I thought it was a good way to end it. I’d say that in general I really like movies that leave you feeling good at the end, but every now and then I also appreciate movies that accurately depict true events. I would have been disappointed if the movie had a happy-go-lucky resolution after it spent the entire film telling a story of the terrible things that happened in WWI. 

BOB'S FINAL THOUGHTS:
I really enjoyed All Quiet on the Western Front.  It's the first one we've watched that didn't feel all that dated.  It's no wonder that this movie was a lightning rod, especially in Germany, when it came out because it was the rare war film that really focused on the fact that the soldiers of World War I were not heroic gladiators out of mythology; they were merely young boys plucked from the classrooms who had their innocence taken from them at far too young an age.  In my estimation, this was a worthy Best Picture winner and my favorite that we've watched so far.

AMANDA'S FINAL THOUGHTS:
I thought All Quiet on the Western Front was good. The very first scene of the movie sets the stage, and that’s when I learned what it was about. In fact, a few minutes in, I also checked out the IMDb synopsis so I knew a little bit more (I notoriously hate movies when I expect one mood or topic and it turns out to be something completely different. I like to know if I should be in the frame of mind for a comedy, something more dramatic, etc.). Admittedly, I am not a WWI history buff, but I felt like this taught me a little bit about the war and history at that time. I'd recommend that people watch this one - just don't expect a comedy!

IMPRESS YOUR FRIENDS!:
All Quiet on the Western Front was banned by the Nazi Party on the grounds that it represented the German soldiers as cowardly, and the ban was not lifted until 1956.

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Cimarron