Movie: All Quiet On The Western Front Essay, Research Paper

Movie: All Quiet on the Western Front

In the movie “All Quiet on the Western Front” we see the boys almost

innocent as they sit in class. The teacher in this scene is pressuring the boys

to go to war. He preaches that it is their “duty” to fight. The teacher seems

very pushy and strict. He is especially strict with Paul, the main character in

the movie. In this particular scene, Paul is drawing a picture of a bird. In

Paul’s family they are glad that he is going to war. His family prays for him

and they pray for the Kaiser, the ruler of Germany. We see here that this is

ironic because Paul’s family is praying for someone they have never met.

When Paul goes to see his friend in the hospital, another friend asks

for the boots he has. This shows that the boys are already changing.

When the boys go to the training camp they are still innocent. They meet

Corporal Himmelstoss. Corporal Himmelstoss is very mean to the boys and is very

strict. After completing the Training camp the boys go to war. When the boys

get to the battlefield they are told by Kat their leader, that what they

learned in training camp they do not need to know because, you don’t need to

know how to march in war. The first day they are there, Paul sees a horse

getting killed. He is very mad about this because the horses are innocent and

they are not involved with the war. Paul is changed emotionally by this and he

is sad about it.

After the boys see the Kaiser they talk and don’t even know what they

are fighting for. One night in battle Paul killed a French soldier. Once he

killed the solider he begins to regret that he killed him. He looks at the

pictures of the soldier’s family. Paul says that “they could of been brothers”.

Paul trys to save the soldier’s life but, cannot. Paul realizes that he has

killed another human. Paul feels remorse

In battle Albert, Paul, and Franz get wounded. Franz dies and Albert

gets his leg amputated. Albert becomes depressed and becomes suicidal. Franz

becomes jealous that Paul is getting better. Albert doesn’t want to return home

with one leg so he try’s to kill himself.

After a months of killing people Paul returns home and writes a letter

to his mom. In the letter he writes that he has changed. Paul writes “I am no

longer what I once was” he has changed. He no longer feels remorse for killing.

He tells his mother that his home and his family is on the battle field. Paul

feels that he is disconnected from his family and he is now a killing machine.

Paul now feels like a robot. When Paul returns and visits his teacher, the

teacher is not upset at all that most of the boys are dead. Paul tells him that

they wanted to stay boys and not die rather then fight in the war.

Near the end of the movie Paul starts to smoke. Paul has changed in many

ways. War has effected him not only physically but, mentally. Paul is crazed

with killing and violence. At the end of the movie, when Paul dies he sees a

bird and wants to draw it. The bird could resemble because in the classroom

when he first drew a picture of the bird he was innocent but now when he is

drawing a picture of the bird, Paul is cynical and enraged with killing. This

could tell us that the boys were too young to fight in the war and they were

forced to fight because of pressure of the others.