All Quiet on the Western Front (1930) ****

This cinematic adaptation of Erich Maria Remarque's novel of the same name is one of the most powerful anti-war films to ever grace the silver screen. Showing the trench warfare fighting, and its after-effects, on German soldiers during the course of World War I, the film gives a horrific glimpse at the dangers and conditions faced by soldiers fighting in a war that many didn't even understand how it started. Being released a little over a decade after fighting had ceased, this film must have been a grim reminder to all those lucky enough to return home who could appreciate its tale even though it was told from the "enemy's" perspective.

The fact that the film follows the lives of German soldiers who are fighting against the British and French never comes between the audience and these young boys who are destroyed, either mentally or physically, by their experiences in the trenches. It's hard not to sympathize with these teenage boys, driven by fanatical patriotic rhetoric to enlist in the army, as they honestly believe they are doing their God-given duty for the Fatherland and are attracted to the powerful allure and grandeur of being a mighty soldier in the German army, and all the respect and love their position is supposed to command.

These boys, still well wet behind the ears, are pushed to enlist by the professor who, rather than instill them with knowledge as he should be, uses his position of authority as a bully pulpit to influence these susceptible young minds to do his bidding. Despite some worries and initial hold-outs, once their leader, Paul Bäumer (Lewis Ayres) is committed, the rest all manage to fall in line. They march boldly off to enlist, never aware of the tortures and pains they are about to undergo, tragic considering how young and impressionable they are and how they were manipulated into doing something rather than make the choice of their own free will.

Any fantasies are quickly quashed by their drill instructor, Himmelstoss (John Wray), who works them day after day until they are a well-oiled unit that can march in perfect harmony. Part of his hard training is derived from the fact he knew most of the boys in civilian life, and they have no real respect for him because of these previous acquaintances. These boys are still heavily tainted by youth, as the gripe about having to clean their uniforms and how Himmelstoss screwed up their leave time. Their act of revenge before shipping out to the front lines is justified and comical, however it highlights just how mentally unprepared these boys are for the life they are about to undertake. Driven by emotion and immature behavior, they are a far cry from the hardened soldiers needed to survive the trenches.

For such an early film, the horrors of war are shown quite graphically given the time in which it was produced. The film was made before the Production Code went into effect and therefore the battle scenes are given a more realistic treatment. In one scene a shell lands on a soldier clutching a barbed wire fence, and when the smoke clears only his hands remain. Such images would not have been tolerated under the Production Code and the film would not be as striking or poignant without them. To be the audience back in 1930, their reaction regarding the lengthy battle sequence in the middle of the film must have been similar to audiences in 1998 who saw the first twenty minutes of Saving Private Ryan.

For those who have not been in the war, it must have been a shock to see that it is not glamorous or beautiful, there is nothing but death and destruction raining down upon the soldiers from the heavens. The enemy is rarely seen and most of the time is spent in a confined bunker with the rest of the unit, unable to do anything about the constant, unrelenting munitions assault, praying that the roof does not collapse on top of them. When the barrage of fire does stop, there is no time to relax as this means the battle proper will now begin. Those charging the line not mowed down by machine gun fire, come leaping into the trench ready to jab a bayonet into an enemy soldier's gut. War is a dirty and ugly affair and there is nothing honorable about it, and this film gives a glaring and unabashed portrayal of it for civilians as best as it can.

The story may not have been so galvanizing if the war had been seen through the eyes of older, battle-weary soldiers, but since our heroes are only sixteen when they first enlist, it provides an extra layer of investment to the proceedings. They may have been drilled mercilessly, but within the safe confines of the training center, they are no where near prepared for what to expect once they reach the front. The terror they experience on their first night of barbed wire duty is apparent as many throw themselves quickly to the ground at the first sound of a shell.

They find some comfort in Kat Katczinsky (Louis Wolheim), an experienced soldier who is famous for his innate ability to scrounge up food where there is none to be found. He wins the boys over with his laid back personality and his genuine concern for their welfare. For the boys, after their professor and Himmelstoss, this is the first authority figure of theirs worthy of admiration and they cling to his every word as he cares about them as people, not as soldiers destined to die for the Fatherland. One of the most telling scenes is while Kat is explaining about the different types of shell fire and Paul hesitantly reaches out his hand to place it on Kat's shoulder. He eventually wraps his arm around Kat as they walk to the depot to pick up the barbed wire. This exemplifies the faith they have placed in him and their gratitude for finding someone willing to look out and comfort them.

That first night laying the barbed wire is an education in and of itself as it is the boys' first experience under fire and one of their classmates is killed after being blinded by one of the shells. They're practically naked out there, the only defense is to hug the ground and hope the bomb does not land on top of them. They lose their first friend that night, and it's not to be last as the number of classmates constantly dwindles as the war goes on. Some of them break down simply due to the unrelenting assault of shell fire, slowly driven insane by the cramped quarters and the lethal danger that could strike at any moment. There's no food, and the days are spent lying around the bunker, desperately looking for any activity which can provide a fleeting distraction to the reality of their current situation. Others are killed in the heat of battle, either by shell fire or by enemy soldiers. The person you were talking to the day before might not be there today, having been ripped suddenly and mercilessly from this life.

The boys are forced to grow up in the worst possible circumstances, and as the film demonstrates, having gone to fight at such a young age, it taints and corrupts them for the rest of their lives. Even if they were fortunate enough to live, they are left a hollow shell of the person they once were, unable to relate back to their civilian life. The most trying experience in the war is when Paul is forced to seek shelter in a crater with an Allied soldier, who Paul is forced to kill in order to prevent others from discovering him. Immediately guilt-ridden Paul nurses the man's wounds, begging him not die and inconsolable with the fact he has taken this man's life. He may have killed in battle previously, but face to face with this man, stabbing him and then being forced to watch him slip away is too much for Paul and he can't reconcile these events in his mind. He's further traumatized by being wheeled into the "death room" at the hospital from which no man ever comes out alive. After preparing to die suddenly on the battlefield, Paul is now faced with the possibility of a slow, painful end in a bed which terrifies him and the audience as his screams echo in the mind for some time.

Once he does return home, he finds no comfort there, unable to relate to family or friends, as he is badgered about how to win the war by people who've never been to the front. He can't find any happiness in seeing his own mother again and cuts his leave short in order to return the front lines, the only place now left to him where he knows he belongs. It's a sad irony that he never particularly wanted to fight in the war, but driven by youthful dreams and the rantings of his professor he goes anyway, wishing every day he could return home again. Once he is there, he realizes he has grown too far apart from that life, and the life of a soldier is the only thing he now understands. There it's a constant battle for survival with no time to dwell on the ghosts of the past and reflect on the trauma that has been experienced. There's too much quiet time in civilian life for those debilitating memories to come flooding back to him and that drives his decision to return to the war as quickly as possible. The war is like a drug, where the addict goes from a playful fantasy of what to expect, until it begins to consume his every waking hour until nothing else matters except for more of it. It drains the life and joy of him, leaving nothing left but an empty husk in its wake, utterly destroying everything it touches.

Favorite moment: Once he returns to his company, Paul gets more joy out of seeing Kat again than he did with his own mother. He's not overcome with grief over the other companions he has lost while he was away, and to hear that Kat is still around, looking for food as always, gives him the joy he could not find at home with his family. Once Kat has been taken from him, it detaches him completely from life, and we last see him, dreary in the trench, barely conscious. His own death brought about by seeing a butterfly, a beautiful creature on a war-torn land. He reaches for it as he did with Kat when he first met him, leading to his final action in life, directly responsible for his death, trying to fill the void the war has left inside him.