6th HOF-All Quiet On The Western Front

[seanc]

Nominated By: Friendly Mushroom

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/6/6c/All_Quiet_on_the_Western_Front_%281930_film%29_poster.jpg/220px-All_Quiet_on_the_Western_Front_%281930_film%29_poster.jpg

I love this film because it shows how hellish war is better than any other film I have seen. It's characters are great and Paul's anti-war speech towards the end of the film is one of the greatest scenes in film history. Easily in my top five or seven favorite scenes. Every second is perfect. My Seventh Favorite Movie.

[cricket]

I'm glad this was nominated because I know it's a big time classic, and it's one I have yet to see.

[christine]

yes I'm glad it's here. A great film,

[Guaporense]

Watched it today. Perhaps one of the best or at least more powerful films in this Hall of Fame.

[gbgoodies]

This is what I wrote about All Quiet on the Western Front in my logbook thread:

http://www.movieforums.com/community/showthread.php?p=1256950#post1256950

I'm not much of a war movie fan, but this is a very powerful movie. It shows how young men start out with smiles on their faces while thinking about how they're going to fight for their country, and how they find out that war isn't as glamorous as they thought it would be when they see how their friends are dying all around them. The scene when Paul goes home on leave and visits his school is a great example of this. When the students hear how he talks about the harshness of war, and they call him a coward for not wanting to die for his country.

The visuals are a bit graphic, but not gory. Watching the soldiers passing off the boots of a dying solider from one soldier to the next after each soldier dies is heartbreaking. Reality sets in when you see how many soldiers don't return from battle in the scene when the cook refused to serve the men their food when there were only 80 men instead of 150 men. He didn't seem to be able to grasp the concept that so many soldiers didn't make it back from battle. However, I couldn't quite figure out what he was going to do with the extra food if he didn't serve them.

The acting is good, but we never really get to know many of the characters, so we don't really feel the deaths of some of the soldiers as much as we could have if the characters had been flushed out better, but overall, this is a very good movie. It's an excellent depiction of the harsh reality of the horrors of war.

3.5+

[rauldc14]

I think the not getting to know the characters portion was done on purpose in a way, to give us the feeling of yeah we don't know what type of people they are but we can have sympathy for them. That is how I always thought of it as.

[gbgoodies]

I think the not getting to know the characters portion was done on purpose in a way, to give us the feeling of yeah we don't know what type of people they are but we can have sympathy for them. That is how I always thought of it as.


That's possible, but it's hard to feel grief for someone who we don't really care about, and it's hard to care about someone who we don't really know. I think getting to know these young soldiers could have made this movie even better, as long as the characters weren't shown as mean people that we wouldn't care if they died.

[Guaporense]

I think your rating underestimates this masterpiece gbgoodies. But I overestimate it perhaps because I am a war buff and a fan of the history of the German armed forces from the 18th century down to the 20th century.

[Citizen Rules]

I've seen All Quiet on the Western Front several times. Great film. I tend to agree with Raul that it's an impersonal story of the soldiers on purpose. That way they can be any soldiers, even American soldiers. I had read that originally they were going to be American soldiers but the film would have been too disturbing if they showed Americans dieing so they made it about the German army.


Guap might have noticed this....the change in style of helmets. During the last part of WW 1 the German's adopted the same helmet style that they would use in WWII. I thought it was a nice touch that the film shows this, as it give a sense of ongoing time in the film.

[Guaporense]

The movie is based on a novel, written by a German WW1 veteran:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All_Quiet_on_the_Western_FrontThat's why it's told from a German perspective.

[Citizen Rules]

It didn't know that.

I swear I had seen on a DVD extra or read somewhere that originally it was to be Americans in the film.

[Guaporense]

They would have to seriously tweak the novel to do so. Specially because the US didn't participate in WW1 for a long time so the soldiers didn't have enough time to become as traumatized as the ones in the movie.

[Citizen Rules]

I must have remembered it wrong then. Anyway it's a great film. It really demonstrates how old flag waving men send young gun-ho men off to die in war. For it's time it also really showed war as horrendous. I personally wouldn't know but it seemed like a very accurate portrayal of WW1.

[Thursday Next]

I've just finished reading the book, which is really powerful, fantastic book. So now I'm ready to rewatch the film.

[Citizen Rules]

If you feel that way about the book, you will have a harder time loving the movie. A positive book reading experience often means a person will feel let down by the movie.

[Miss Vicky]

I've got mixed feelings on this one.

I really disliked the acting in this film. The performances seemed to all be either wooden or hammy with nothing in between and the voices of several of the actors, the lead in particular, were rather grating as well. For most of the film, I found myself disconnected from what was going on. I wasn't emotionally invested in any of these men so it was hard to feel anything when one died or was wounded.

That said, I respect what the film was trying to do and some scenes did work well for me despite the flaws. The butterfly scene in particular was really poignant, but through it all I kept thinking about how much more emotionally moving and effective the finale of Blackadder Goes Forth - a television comedy - was in conveying similar ideas.

3.5-

[jiraffejustin]

The bombardment scenes are fantastic. The film is really good, but man, those bombardment scenes.

[cricket]

I watched this one last night. I was looking forward to it and had fairly high expectations. It most definitely exceeded those expectations.

It's been pointed out how we don't get to know many of the characters. I thought this was ideal. Instead of getting to know a distinct movie character and having an opinion on that character, these soldiers could be any and every guy we know; the kid who grew up next door, your paperboy, the grocery clerk, or your postman. I felt that this helped illustrate how battle is completely unbiased, and turns people into no more than numbers. I watch a lot of violent movies, but I was totally unprepared for the battle scenes in this movie. Sure, they weren't gory, but they were emotionally upsetting. These were probably the most effective battle scenes I've seen. It wasn't only that though; I thought every scene in the movie served a purpose. Most war movies usually focus on one or two aspects of war, be it the action, the after effects, training, relationships, morality, or whatever. This movie seemed to cover everything. I thought it was a great movie. 5

[Citizen Rules]

Excellent post Cricket. You really described the soul of the film to a tee.

[cricket]

Thanks Rules, I really thought it was a brilliant movie.

[Friendly Mushroom!]

Glad you liked it too! :)

[neiba]

Until recently I always thought of myself as a not a fan of war movise. Apparently, I was watching all the wrong ones.

I wasn't expecting it to be so powerful and so deep! I will write a reviem about this one too (which will be the 3rd review on a war movie out a total of 6 reviews I done so far). But I definitely loved it!

Between rating_4 + and 4.5 -

[Guaporense]

Watch Grave of the Fireflies and The Human Condition Trilogy too. :) Best movies that explore the human side of the war.

They are different from like contemporary American war movies like Glory that treat war like a videogame. :) Not that there is anything essentially wrong with that (perhaps it might insult the survivors though they are almost all dead now).

All Quiet in the Western Front is the best American war film I ever watched. It's among my top films of all time list at this moment. :D

[Gatsby]

All Quiet on the Western Front

Already in my 100, All Quiet on the Western Front is my favorite classic anti-war film. I was pleased when this got nominated, because I could revisit the experience.

There's a lot of visual stuff, even for a 30s films, so I had fun finding scenes where soldiers talk in the dad background, and so on. It really helped enhance the overall message the film is trying to give us.

Not only is the film detailed, but it also knows how to focus on the big picture. The balance is excellent, something I find hard in recent war films. Everything ranges from extremely quiet and emotional to terrifying loudness.

It's kind of hard to get into the characters, but as cricket pointed out that's the way it should be, because that's war. No friendship or love lasts forever, reality is full of shells exploding and men suffering. Truly shows the most barbaric side of mass slaughter disguised as a giant patriotic charge against the enemy.

I'll use the last sentence from my Raiders of the Lost Ark review and say, "War films don't get any better than this."

5

[neiba]

It took me some time but it's done, my review of All Quiet on the Western Front:

http://www.movieforums.com/community/showthread.php?anchor=1&p=1304127#post1304127