Essay/Term paper: Movie: all quiet on the western front

Essay, term paper, research paper:  Movie Reviews

Movie: All Quiet on the Western Front


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.