“All Quiet on the Western Front” from 1979, brings an emotional punch from start to finish.
The movie, based off the World War I novel, written by Erich Maria Remarque in 1929. The book, which is know for its anti-war stance, has been turned into three well-made and well-received movies, including versions in 1930, 1979 and 2022. The 1930 version received the Best Picture Academy Award, and the 2022 version was nominated for the same top award.
For me, the 1979 version evokes the horrors of war and its consequences. there is so much emotion, it’s hard to feel the true horrors of what World War I soldiers faced.
The story takes place in France and Germany with our main character being Paul Baumer, who enlisted in the German army in WWI and fought in the early days of the war.
Baumer and his friends, formed at school, join him, but most of the die during the duration of the movie. The ending is the final emotional gut punch that drives the story to a fitting conclusion.
The story evokes emotion in the viewer by showing them the true horrors of war and how in the end no one wins. Even today with countries on the brink of war, let us look back on how wars affect us.
War never changes.
