Novermber 6th, 2007
The 1930 movie All Quiet on the Western Front staring Lew Ayres as Paul Baumer gives an accurate picture of the tragic loss of World War I. Eric Maria Remarque’s classic anti-war novel and the motion-picture that followed relates the story of young men who were manipulated by the rhetoric of their teacher into enlisting in the German army. They are told that to die for the “fatherland” was the most beautiful and precious way to die. They are also told to set aside their own personal ambitions and help Germany win its glorious victory. The first scene of the movie is particularly effective. It shows a group of young men sitting in a classroom listening dutifully as their teacher tells them that to fight for the fatherland was the greatest privilege they had. You see the young men’s eager eyes flash with enthusiasm and excitement at what their teacher is telling them. The scene ends with the whole class marching off to enlist in the army—stirred by the passion and patriotism of the moment.
Although Paul Baumer and his classmates are at first enthusiastic about their new life as soldiers they soon realize the true horrors of the war. On the western front they suffer from the hands of the enemy as well as the horrible conditions of trench life. Many of Paul’s companions are killed in combat.
Later in the movie Paul Baumer goes back home on leave. One afternoon he happens to walk by the little school house where he and his comrades were first indoctrinated into enlisting. Paul hears the same teacher giving the same patriotic rhetoric to another group of young men. Upon entering the classroom, his former teacher asks Paul to tell the boys in the class what it means to be a soldier and to relate some heroic deed that he has done. Paul Baumer is bluntly honest with the young men in the class and he tells them about the senseless death and destruction that he has witnessed. He then reminds his teacher that war has not at all brought the glorious victory that they had been promised.
All Quiet on the Western Front should be seen by all who find war-time propaganda—used even to this day—despicable. It’s the story of young men —though once caught up in the patriotism of the times—quickly learning to face the horrors of war
