Matt's Big Oscar Challenge Day Twenty-Six: All Quiet on the Western Front Take 2

As we all know the first itme I tried to watch this film at the beginning of my quest the DVD wasn't playing ball but LoveFilm have sent me a much better copy this time around and I was able to watch it. The first thing that struck me was how modern this felt given that it won at the 1930 ceremony the film mainly deals with a group of schoolboys who are convinced into joining the army during World War I by their passionate teacher. After completing a fairly light training practise they are drafted onto the front line and into the trenches with more experienced soldiers who wonder why these boys have joined up. The film sees the boys quickly grow up as they see their friends wounded and occasionally die. A lot of the film also deals with the mundanity of war and the horror of the trenches one scene in particular in which rats invade the trench is very effecting. Meanwihle the troops of 2nd company also war over food and are often depicted as very hungry indeed. The final third of the film looks at one member of the troop in particular - Paul Baurner. Paul is injured and taken to the catholic hospital where he encounters an old friend and also sees what happens when soldiers get injured. Paul returns home where he sees that people in his hometown don't realise the horrors of war instead debating it in the pub and he also criticises his old teacher for convincing him to go in the first place. Paul then returns to the front line and ends up dying after trying to rescue a butterfly.

As I said previously when I reviewed Wings its odd to look at the first film that won the Oscar and this year's winner The Hurt Locker which both look at how war effect men. All Quiet on The Western Front does this as well but seems to have had a bigger influence on most war films released since from Apocalypse Now to Saving Private Ryan to The Hurt Locker there are elements of this film in all of them. I was also taken aback by the massive difference between this and Wings despite only being seperated by only three years. The battle scenes in particular look at lot less staged and go for a lot longer and therefore give more of an impression to the audience of what the war was like. As well as Best Picture the film also won Best Director Oscar for Lewis Milestone and was nominated for both writing and cinematography the latter of which it should've won. When this film won there were only four other nominees so it didn't have as much competition but I can't see it being beaten by anything in my mind certainly not The Divorcee, the only other film I've watched from this year so far. Its a shame that this film presumes that war is long gone because as we all know World War II was just around the corner.