"We fight. We try not to be killed. Sometimes we are. That's all".

Rating: 10/10 (6 February 2010)

That this picture won the Best Film Oscar in 1930 should come as no surprise. I've seen hundreds of pre-1950 movies, and can pretty safely say that most range in quality from abysmal to almost good. You have your exceptions, such as "Casablanca", "The Wizard of Oz", and "Citizen Kane", but we're talking about 1930 here. Certainly one of the best war films (or anti-war depending on your view), depicting the utter desperation and futility of life and death on the battlefield. That perspective is driven home time after time as waves of advancing soldiers descend upon German trench positions and the grim brutality of combat death is depicted in all it's horror. The picture deftly juxtaposes the insanity of war against the unbridled passion of academic devotion to the Fatherland, as depicted by Paul Baumer's university professor Kantorek, emotionally whipping his pliable young students into a patriotic frenzy. Baumer's education as a battle hardened soldier is not enough to convince them that honor and glory has it's personal price.
Eighty years' passing may have diminished the film's appeal to present day audiences who thrive on the blood and guts realism of modern films, but the underlying message is timeless. War is hell, and even though waged by opposing governments or ideologies, the toll on lives is ultimately personal.