A Frightening Look at World War I.

Rating: 10/10 (7 July 2004)

The film shows the horrors of World War I through a group of young recruits. One of them is Lew Ayres who declares "We live in the trenches and we fight. We try not to be killed - that's all."
The interesting thing about this film was that it showed what our enemies were thinking and how it affected them. Something I hadn't seen too much of when I first saw the film.
It has many memorable scenes including infantrymen being mowed down by machine guns, the pacifist speech that Ayres' makes, and that haunting final scene with the butterfly. But the most memorable scene for me was when a soldier is blinded by an explosion and runs out into the crossfire. You'll have to witness this scene to get the full effect.
The film won two Academy Awards (Picture and Director) and was nominated for Writing and Cinematography. It is a very powerful look at the trenches and the opposite side.