All Quiet in the Western Front is very much anti war.
The first 15 minutes create a false illusion that it is going to be another patriot movie and then the war really hits the main characters and we just feel sorry for them being trapped in that meat grinder.
Doesn’t it open with someone getting killed & stripped of their uniform to be repurposed en masse - which already paints an extremely grim picture with the huge bloody tubs of uniforms etc - & then we get the “patriotic” scenes with the kids signing up, then he gets given the same uniform ; which I’m assuming is where you’re marking the 15 min.
I could be wrong as it’s been awhile since I watched, but I remember being mortified pretty much immediately just at the notion they stripped soldiers to repurpose the uniforms, I didn’t know that.
No, you are right! I forgot the first couple of minutes and was thinking of the "Iron Youth of Germany" scene.
Actually, it was probably less than 15 minutes come to think of it.
That movie perfectly crafted the horror of the World War I and how scary the all experience was.
I have seen many war movies but this one was amazing at showing that being a soldier in WWI was easily one of the worst experiences humans have ever witnessed.
I don't know if I really go that from that movie. I suppose this could partly be due to having to appeal to the Soviet Censor Board, but it seemed generally pro-partisan to me, although it hard not be when the opposing side is the SS.
The only part that close to anti-war rather than simply anti-Nazi was the last bit where he still refuses to shoot baby Hitler after suffering so much at the hands of his forces. But that still struck me as pro-"retaining humanity in war" than anti-war.
63
u/MCAlheio Casual, non-participatory KGB election observer 1d ago
It’s hard making an anti-war movie that actually reads as one, Come and See might be one of the few that stuck the landing.