"All Quiet on the Western Front".

Authors Avatar

Essay

 “All Quiet on the Western Front”

War and Death

World War 1, the Great War of 1914 – 1918 brought about losses of great number. All Quiet on the Western Front is an account of German soldiers during the war thought to be ‘the war to end all wars’. It covers the horror and disruption that this war brought to life through the eyes of a 19-year-old German solider, Paul Baumer. The major theme of the movie was to show the disruption and terror of war and this is portrayed through the carnage, gore and death. Paul Baumer and his fellow soldiers entice into the army with glowing enthusiasm thinking war was a lofty, manly way of defining oneself. Soon they realize that war was not about being noble – it is no more than death and destruction. The death that surrounds the soldiers shatters the innocence and youth they have in them. War can be seen as a synonym of death, an event of horror that only the soldiers see the truth of. 

The overriding theme of All Quiet on the Western Front is the terrible brutality and death of war. War at times is seen to bring glory, honour, patriotic duty, and adventure. All Quiet on the Western Front depicts war as it should be, replacing the picture of glory and heroism with what it really is - death. World War 1, with its battles that lasted for months and its horrible technological advancements, was a war of carnage and violence. Machine guns, trenches, poison gas and air missiles where all forms of fighting that made death even more apparent during the war.  The film, with its excellent camera effects and scenes, dramatizes the horrible aspects of World War 1. It also portrays the mind-numbing terror and savagery of war with a focus on the physical and psychological damage that it brings. It is a story of a generation that fought for nothing but the principle of hate, and when one has hate it leads to the result of death.

Join now!

The prologue in the movie starts with a statement that says that this is a story of a “generation of men who, even though they may have escaped its shells, were destroyed by the war…” The movie opens “at peace” with the camera focusing into a school window with a German schoolmaster telling his young students of the honour of being part of the war. He states,

To be foremost in battle is a virtue not to be despised. I believe it will be a quick war. There will be few losses. But if losses there must ...

This is a preview of the whole essay