The Beauty of a Butterfly

Rating: 10/10 (10 November 2005)

There are few moments in film history as moving as the last shot of this film, when a soldier fighting in the trenches of World War I is able to shut out the carnage around him to focus on the unlikely beauty of a butterfly that has landed only inches in front of him. The power of this image is an example of what set this film apart from all of the movies that had preceded it and ushered in a new era of sophistication in the art form.
"All Quiet on the Western Front" is one of the first movies to feel like a movie. The camera takes part in the action: it moves in and out, frames people in close up. Some of the most memorable images come when the camera tracks along with the soldiers as they charge the enemy trenches. And though sound in cinema was in its infancy, this movie makes terrific use of it.
Compare this movie's version of combat to the films that would come out ten years later with the outbreak of WWII, and it almost takes your breath away with how ahead of its time it seems. Easily one of the best war movies ever made, and one of the best movies ever made, period.
Grade: A+