Guest Blogger: David Butler! Movie Review: All Quiet on the Western Front

My wife and I have decided to watch all of the Academy Award (Oscar) winning movies in chronological order. We joined Netflix and added each one to our queue. The movies started to arrive several weeks ago and we are attempting to watch one per week. We have made it through 5 movies to date.

The first movie to be reviewed is All Quiet on the Western Front (1930). All Quiet on the Western Front is a film adaptation from a novel chronicling World War I from a German soldier’s perspective. The movie begins with students in either a senior-high or early college classroom. The students are all fresh faced, nicely dressed and day dreaming while the instructor rambles. Behind the instruction out two open windows on each side, you see mobilization for war. Eventually the instructor's voice becomes louder and more virtuous proclaiming the honorable role of defending the Fatherland ( Germany ) and each young man's duty. The instructor eventually whips all the students into a frenzy where they go off and enlist in the army.

The rest of the movie chronicles this classroom of boys from boot camp to the front lines. I will not give away the whole movie or ending, but one of the most poignant scenes is when one of the former students now solider comes back after months (or is it years?) from the front lines. He drops by the same classroom with the same instructor giving the same patriotic speech to a new group of young faces.

The cinematography is superb with each scene shot for maximum impact on the viewer. The acting is perfect, you feel sympathetic for the soldiers and what they are experiencing both physically and psychologically. During one scene, the French forces charge into and over the German trenches. These soldiers shoot and fight hand-to-hand against these foes. One has to step back and remember that these "enemies" are actually the "good guy" the Allies in World War I. The movie is that compelling. For 1930 the sets are huge and expansive, especially the trench warfare pieces and associated explosions.

I strongly recommend this movie to anyone. It is not simply a war movie, but instead is a fundamental insight into how warfare transforms a person in a short time.