One of the most rousing war films ever made

Rating: 10/10 (13 May 2015)

Lewis Milestone's adaptation of Erich Maria Remarque's " All Quiet on the Western Front" was definitely a better film on his military resume than the flawed but still good Pork Chop Hill (1959). The movie is a character study of a young man named Paul Baumer (played by Lew Ayres in an Oscar snubbed performance) who is in college during the start of the film with some classmates of his and a teacher who convinces them to serve in World War I and that "It is a wonderful thing to die for your country, which is the heroic thing to do". Then as soon as Paul persuades his friends to enlist and go off to war they begin to realize that killing people isn't as fun as they previously thought to which they go from a pro-war to an anti-war stance. Although I disagree with the film's point of view I think that is a great thing for people to serve their own country, and the great thing about movies is that people can tell a story from a certain perspective. The movie compares to some of the greatest war films of all time for example Platoon (1986), Saving Private Ryan (1998), Patton (1970), The Deer Hunter (1978), and The Hurt Locker (2009). Even though the war films that I just listed take place in different wars that we have been involved in, the thing that made me love the movie a whole lot more was reading the novel because it gave me a better understanding of what the film was about and the emotions of the characters, which is why in the film's case it is great on so many levels even the storytelling, acting, photography, and writing, etc. Also these are reasons why I personally think that the movie should received more Oscars and nominations that it ended up receiving at the 3rd Oscars ceremony.