All Quiet on the Western Front Movie Review
All Quiet on the Western Front is an epic anti-war movie that is very entertaining in how terrible the conditions are for the German soldiers, but also very sad due to the plight the young boys suffer in a meaningless war.
All Quiet on the Western Front is a 2022 war movie about a young German soldier and the terrors he faces during World War 1. The movie takes us through a journey of terrible war and the dilapidating conditions soldiers have to go through to fight in the war and stay alive.
Baumer
Paul Baumer, played by Felix Kammerer, is a young high school student who forges the consent letter to go to war. His mom is against the idea of him joining the German troops but he finds his way, along with his friends. The boys are excited and are certain that in a matter of only a few weeks, they'll be in Paris, having conquered their enemy all the way there.
The Trenches
The German troops engage the French in occupied territory, specifically a plain in Northern France near La Malmaison. The boys are quickly cast into battle, with little to no knowledge of how to fight or what they have really gotten themselves into. Before long, the French bombs start coming in and the troop hunkers down in a wooden bunker. Needless to say, it comes down in a matter of minutes.
Loss
Paul loses many of his friends, including several of his closest friends Albert Kropp, played by Aaron Hilmer, Ludwig Behm, played by Adrian Grunewald, and Franz Muller, played by Moritz Klaus. War is not kind and most of all to young boys recruited into the Imperial German Army just for the thrill of it. The boys are drawn in by a patriotic speech delivered by a school official. Unbeknown to them, even the clothes they are being given to wear to war are upcycled and belonged to dead soldiers.
Survival
By whatever luck, Paul survives the war for all of 2 years and is part of a platoon that is based near a French village. There he and his counterparts are mostly hungry, scampering for any meat as they only have access to boiled potatoes. Baumer and his close friend Stanislaus 'Kat' Katczinsky, played by Albrecht Schuch, decide to go and steal a goose from a nearby French farmer. The boys are thrilled with the feast which is one of their last joys before they are recalled to the front line.
No Mercy
War is lethal and murderous and Baumer is pushed to have to murder a French soldier by stabbing him. He barely survives after the French mount a heavy attack on their trench, even employing tanks. Baumer has to stab the man and only later realizes that he had a family and tries to help him. He's too late, however, and the soldier dies.
