FREE ESSAY ON ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT

ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT

All Quiet On the Western Front
All Quiet on the Western Front, directed by Delbert Mann, is based on the novel written
by Erich Maria Remarque. It tells the story of a German schoolboy, Paul Baumer, and a
group of his classmates, who journey from fantasies of heroic glory to the real horror of
actual soldiering. Their journey is a coming of age tale that centers on the
consternation of war and emphasizes the moral, spiritual, emotional, and physical
deterioration suffered by the young soldiers.
Paul Baumer is a 19-year-old volunteer to the German army during World War I. He and his
classmates charge fresh out of high school into military service, hounded by the
nationalist ranting of a feverish schoolmaster, Kantorek. Though not all of them want to
enlist, they do so in order to save face. Their first stop is boot camp, where life is
still laughter and games. Where are all the medals? asks one. Just wait a month and I'll
have them, comes the boisterous response. This is their last vestige of boyhood. 
War slowly begins to strip away the ideals these boy-men once cherished. Their respect
for authority is torn away by their disillusionment with their schoolteacher, Kantorek
who pushed them to join. This is followed by their brief encounter with Corporal
Himmelstoss at boot camp. The contemptible tactics that their superior officer
Himmelstoss perpetrates in the name of discipline finally shatters their respect for
authority. As the boys, fresh from boot camp, march toward the front for the first time,
each one looks over his shoulder at the departing transport truck. They realize that they
have now cast aside their lives as schoolboys and they feel the numbing reality of their
uncertain futures. 
After their first two days of fighting, they return to their bunker, where they find
neither safety nor comfort. A grizzled veteran, Kat, suggests these 'fresh-faced boys'
should return to the classroom. The war steals their spiritual belief in the sanctity of
human life with every man that they kill. This is best illustrated by Paul's journey from
anguish to rationalization of the killing of Gerard Duval; the printer turned enemy who
leaps into the shell-hole already occupied by Paul. Paul struggles with the concept of
killing a brother, not the enemy. He weeps despondently as war destroys his emotional
being.
War destroys Paul and his friends. Those who physically survive the bombing, the bullets
and bayonets are annihilated by physical attacks on their sanity. Their minds are
exploded by the weight of one too many atrocities they have witnessed and yet their hope
in a seemingly hopeless situation attests to the endurance of the human spirit. The
slight chance that they would return home someday inspires them to think and fight like
murderous animals and endure the barbarity of the face of war. 
But as the war wears on and the battlefield soaks up the blood of Kemmerich, then
Westhus, then Muller, Paul's hope ebbs. After recovering from his wound, he entertains
his thoughts of returning home on leave. He wants to return to his boyhood days of
civilian clothes, family, and childhood memories. Arriving home, Paul realizes that he
neither fits in his old life nor can he fit into his old dress suit. Returning to his
home on the front, he learns of the death of another friend. After the deaths or
dismemberment of his classmates, other comrades, and finally his most cherished friend
Katczinsky, Paul speaks of being broken, burnt out, and rootless. Ironically, on the eve
of the resolution of World War I, Paul is killed. Although his life was brief, he handled
more experiences than most men have in long life span.