A realistic portrayal of the horrors of war from a soldiers perspective

Rating: 8/10 (10 February 2008)

My all time favorite war (or anti-war) book. It has been some years since I read the book and there are some details I believe are missing from the movie but that is common enough and certainly doesn't hamper the anti-war message of the film. All Quiet on the Western Front won four Oscars in 1930 and it's no less brilliant or relevant today. In many ways I believe it could be considered the grand-daddy of war movies and many of its elements will be familiar to fans of the genre. Modern war classics such as Saving Private Ryan and Platoon have nothing on All Quiet on the Western Front which is a brutal and shocking film despite the lack of explicit gore. The first scenes of trench warfare are as violent and terrifying as the Omaha Beach scene in Saving Private Ryan. Director Lewis Milestone shows us the despair and and the fear that at times overwhelm the soldiers. When new recruit Paul Baumer cries and hides his face in shame during his first bombardment, veteran soldier, Corporal "Kat" Katczinsky grabs him and tells him it's happened to better men and it's happened to him (Kat). After returning from their first mission, the chow sergeant won't feed the men until the rest of the company shows up. Upon learning there are no more men, the chow sergeant is angry he cooked for 150 men but only 80 showed up to eat. Hunger is their constant companion and what little food they can scavenge must be protected from gangs of rats that patrol the trenches. Wounded soldiers seem to have little more chance at the hospital than they do on the battlefield.
After being injured and earning a bit of leave, Paul goes home and faces the pro-war sentiment of his town who have no idea of the horror of war. Paul discovers that he is a stranger there, that he can no longer relate to people he's known all his life and it's impossible to explain his experiences to them. So Paul does the only thing he can do, he goes back to the front lines, to the only place where people understand.