Essay/Term paper: All quite on the western front

Essay, term paper, research paper:  Movie Reviews

In the movie "All Quiet on the Western Front" we see the boys almost innocent as

they sit in class. The teacher in this scene is pressuring the boys to go to war. He preaches

that it is their "duty" to fight. The teacher seems very pushy and strict. He is especially

strict with Paul, the main character in the movie. In this particular scene, Paul is drawing a

picture of a bird. In Paul's family they are glad that he is going to war. His family prays for

him and they pray for the Kaiser, the ruler of Germany. We see here that this is ironic

because Paul's family is praying for someone they have never met.

When Paul goes to see his friend in the hospital, another friend asks for the boots

he has. This shows that the boys are already changing.

When the boys go to the training camp they are still innocent. They meet Corporal

Himmelstoss. Corporal Himmelstoss is very mean to the boys and is very strict. After

completing the Training camp the boys go to war. When the boys get to the battlefield

they are told by Kat their leader, that what they learned in training camp they do not need

to know because, you don't need to know how to march in war. The first day they are

there, Paul sees a horse getting killed. He is very mad about this because the horses are

innocent and they are not involved with the war. Paul is changed emotionally by this and

he is sad about it.

After the boys see the Kaiser they talk and don't even know what they are fighting

for. One night in battle Paul killed a French soldier. Once he killed the solider he begins to

regret that he killed him. He looks at the pictures of the soldier's family. Paul says that

"they could of been brothers". Paul trys to save the soldier's life but, cannot. Paul realizes

that he has killed another human. Paul feels remorse

In battle Albert, Paul, and Franz get wounded. Franz dies and Albert gets his leg

amputated. Albert becomes depressed and becomes suicidal. Franz becomes jealous that

Paul is getting better. Albert doesn't want to return home with one leg so he try's to kill

himself.

After a months of killing people Paul returns home and writes a letter to his mom.

In the letter he writes that he has changed. Paul writes "I am no longer what I once was"

he has changed. He no longer feels remorse for killing. He tells his mother that his home

and his family is on the battle field. Paul feels that he is disconnected from his family and

he is now a killing machine. Paul now feels like a robot. When Paul returns and visits his

teacher, the teacher is not upset at all that most of the boys are dead. Paul tells him that

they wanted to stay boys and not die rather then fight in the war.

Near the end of the movie Paul starts to smoke. Paul has changed in many ways.

War has effected him not only physically but, mentally. Paul is crazed with killing and

violence. At the end of the movie, when Paul dies he sees a bird and wants to draw it. The

bird could resemble because in the classroom when he first drew a picture of the bird he

was innocent but now when he is drawing a picture of the bird, Paul is cynical and enraged

with killing. This could tell us that the boys were too young to fight in the war and they

were forced to fight because of pressure of the others.