No war can be justified.

Rating: 10/10 (24 May 2014)

While catching up with some old classics I came across this brilliant piece of cinema which is made 84 years back. Though it is nearly a century old right now the sheer amount of creativity in this is simply mind blowing. Maybe looking at the long journey the cinema has come up to now from the time this movie was made comparatively the key point that comes to my mind is that 'not much improvement'. Because in a world where we believe that Saving Private Ryan is a masterpiece (It is no doubt) of war cinema All Quite on the Western Front (AQWF) has done it in a magnitude beyond its time and that's some mind boggling truth to realize.
The background of the movie is based on a set of teenagers who joins the German army on the first year of World War 1. Thought they are still very young and attending to school the motivation they received through their school professor make them want to fight for their country. However they realize that the true face of war is brutal, unforgiving and severely stressful than the picture they received of it back at home. On blood, sweat and dead bodies they struggle to survive one day at a time seeing the devastation of war getting heftier by the night. While the story follows several individuals in a group the key character is Paul Bäumer who finally gets to return home after getting injured. But once he come back which is after 3 years from being in the front line he realizes that the place he call home is not what it used to be. And he becomes a stranger amongst the people of his home town.
AQWF is based on a German novel (Im Westen nichts Neues) by Erich Maria Remarque, a German veteran of World War I. The movie is directed by Lewis Milestone. The storyline is very effective in terms of depicting the mentality of the soldiers who are fighting in the front lines and how the hardships of the circumstances break them. Lack of food, long hours on duty, fear of death, being homesick, losing their mates are all taking a toll on their motivation and ultimately the significance of their existence is lost. But the courage these young men show staring at death day in and day out is not to be underestimated. The other key point which made AQWF on top of my war movie list is the cinematography. Right from the start the details the movie concentrates upon is magnificent. In an age where CG was not heard of most of the scenes have being staged live and that must have being a tremendous effort from the whole crew. And there is one astonishing battle sequence that runs for a whole of 8 minutes nonstop and by the end of it the viewer will be sweating for sure.
The true beauty of AQWF is how the director mixes up the selfless war and the humans full of emotions in to one. This mix ultimately proves that wars are fought by ordinary people in extraordinary situations and their lives are just as valuable no matter what side they fight for. But on the battle ground that is the only thing that seems to have no value and it's devastating. No war can be justified.