A gritty and realistic WW1 film that is true to the book

Rating: 9/10 (9 April 2007)

All Quiet on the Western Front is remembered for several different reasons and is a common household name today. Some say it is because it was the first 'talkie' to win Best Picture. Others say it is due to the amazing phrase its title is (common admit it is catchy). Yet others still insist it is due to the amazing adaptation of the book it was based on. However, All Quiet on the Western Front is best remembered by me as a gritty and realistic portrayal of a war nearly entirely forgotten.
All Quiet on the Western Front follows the story of Paul Baumer, a German teenager who enlists in the army upon the onset of World War One. Along with his classmates, he believes the war will be more of an adventure than a war. That is until they are thrown into the trenches and confronted with the horrors of trench warfare and no mans land. Slowly the many teenage soldiers begin to lose their innocence in this war to end all wars.
All Quiet on the Western Front is one of those few films that takes us into the lives of a soldier. It does not drop us into some distant battlefield and hold us there until the end. Instead the film gives backgrounds and liveliness to the characters. Everyone is made out to be someone you could run into on the street any day of the week. This is a work of Remarque (the man who wrote the book) and is brought forth perfectly by the actors portraying the characters.
What made the book so wonderful was its accurate portrayal and feelings of World War One soldiers. Neither side had a vast majority vicious fighters who sought to destroy the enemy, they were there because that is what their government told them to do. These men were not glorious heroes because of the killing they did but for what they did for each other. The movie (just like the book) shows us that these men are not soldiers but human beings who are trying to survive in the war to end all wars.
Another upside to the film is its realistic showing of trench warfare. The battle scenes are anything but watered down. The three or four scenes of actual battle are gritty and unnerving. The slaughter shown is accurate to the point of pain when compared to casualty statistics of the First World War (1,058,407 lost at the Battle of the Somme for anyone doubting that). Lewis Milestone paved the way for epic war battles with this film.
Lew Ayres is an unknown actor to me. Granted I don't see many films from this time period but I thought his work as the young Paul Baumer was excellent. We literally see him age throughout the film and are easily able to relate to him and understand him. We understand the pain he suffers, we understand the emotions he is feeling all through Ayres fine acting. I hope to come across more of Ayres work in the near future, he was a great actor from what I saw in this movie.
While Ayres gives a magnificent performance he is overshadowed by Louis Wolheim who portrays the leader of the bunch, Kat. Wolheim died a year after making this film and to me this was his best work. He is so close to perfection as the battle hardened Kat that it is almost unreal. His acting isn't like the melodramatic work of most actors of this period. It is as if you were watching an actor out of the present day.
The work other than what is on the screen is marvelous. How the film did not win Best Cinematography is beyond me. It won two Academy Awards and perhaps the two biggest (Director and Picture). Remarque's anti-war classic is brought to life and loyally followed in the film adaptation. All Quiet on the Western Front goes down as one of the earliest war films. It also goes down as one of the most intense, most gruesome, and most brilliant anti-war films I've ever seen. Do not miss this timeless classic.
4.5/5 Stars