A very sobering depiction of war in general

Rating: 7/10 (30 April 2015)

I cannot really say much except that this film is a piece of work that would make anyone who watched it a pacifist; the grim anti-war message is further supported by the loss of innocence by the main character Paul, the ignorance of the slaughter on the home front by the folks and general behind the front lines in relative safety, and the romanticism of the glories of war held by Paul's professor. With all this is a dark coming-of-age story and a test of manhood and what it means to be a "brave, noble soldier" in spite of terrible conditions and unwinnable battles.
My personal problem with this film is that, due to the time it was made, over-acting and melodramatics are employed by the young guys in the film. The adults are very believable and play their part succinctly and without a thespian air--the young men in this film are almost wincingly bad in some places regarding subtly: It's almost non-existent in some scenes. Thankfully, all of that goes away when the characters are forced to charge enemy lines or retreat under shell fire.
Another bump in the road that I don't know if it was intentional or not was that when a person fell I had no idea if they had been indeed hit by enemy fire or shrapnel or if they were simply taking cover. It was surprising when someone I thought must have been sniped actually continued to move forward, and somebody I thought was fine turned out to have a bullet in the leg.
The slightly jarring fast-forward of enemy/ally advancement towards one trench or another with absolutely no sound calls upon the style of a silent newsreel. It's horrifying and sobering to watch, and I enjoyed every minute of it.