All Quiet on the Western Front (2022)

 

This week for film class, we have continued to work on presentations. After I finished my presentation, I noticed someone after me talking about a new Netflix movie called All Quiet on The Western Front. As the presenter continued to talk about the psychodynamic theory and how it related to the film, I was too busy writing down the name of the movie so I could watch it at home. I love films based on military events, so this one did not disappoint me. As a matter of opinion, I thought that this was the best movie I have seen in a long time. All Quiet on The Western Front is a 2022 film that takes place in 1914, World War 1 Germany. It was directed by Edward Berger, who did not shy away from goriness and blood. There is a certain amount of realism when it comes to bloody war scenes, although this movie was so intense and realistic that it made me feel like I was in the bunker as well. While watching it, I started to get sad, mostly because I know things like this story happened a lot in that war. Unfortunately, it did not get much better as the film went on, mostly because the war lasted so long throughout the movie.  

     The movie starts out with the main character Paul Baumer and his classmates enlisting in the army to serve their homeland. They are then drafted, although they looked so happy to know what they were getting themselves into. They are driven to the military camp where they were cheering and laughing to be on the way there. It was at this moment when I noticed that these were just kids. These 17-year-old kids are not ready to be holding a gun, let alone having to use it to shoot people and defend themselves with it. It is so sad to see them walk into the base knowing that they think it is going to be fun, mostly because I am familiar with war and the terrors that can come from it. When they were picking up their uniforms, the main character Paul, received a uniform that had someone else's name on it. I discovered in class that they would take the uniforms off dead soldiers and give them to the new soldiers because they did not have enough supplies and money for them. As the movie continues, it only gets more real and scary, which made me really start to get scared for Paul and his classmates.  

     One thing that really made me feel a lot of emotions during this movie was the fact that these kids had no idea what they were getting into. Seeing them all cheer to defend their country is so heartbreaking because they do not know what they are about to do. There were so many signs saying “fight for your country, make us proud!” and people congratulating them on fighting for their country that it seemed like a wonderful thing to do. The classmates even had fathers who pushed for them to fight for their country to honor the family name. After hearing something like that, it almost sounds like going to war is a fun activity. That is why they had no idea that they were going to see men right next to them get a bullet through their skull, or intestines falling on the found from an enemy grenade. These high school students were forced to grow up and see real tragedy which they were clearly not ready for. I would recommend this movie to anyone that loves war movies or just really enjoys a highly developed, detailed, historic film.