While using the same title as earlier versions of the book this film falls far short of depicting the disillusionment and eventual fate of its main character, Paul Baumer. The academy-award winning original version showed the gradual transformation of Paul and his friends from enthusiastic recruits to hard-bitten, and eventually doomed, veterans.
Inspired by the patriotic harangues by their school teacher, they go to boot camp, where they are turned into hardened fighting men by a sadistic drill sergeant. On their first exposure to the front lines they install new barbed wire at night in front of their trenches, only to see one comrade caught in the wire and killed by an enemy sniper.
They finally are stationed in the trenches where a grisly sergeant shows Paul how his portable shovel will be his best weapon in hand-to-hand combat. (In the new movie Paul is quite handy with his shovel but we never know where or how he developed that talent.) Also in the original, one of his buddies gets new boots and is promptly killed by a sniper. Another friend takes the boots and is soon killed. This "cursed boots" element was a way to focus on the deaths of each of his friends.
Also left out of this new version is the weekend sojourned the boys spent on leave with some rural French girls who were more than willing to trade their hospitality for bread, which the German soldiers had in abundance. Later, when Paul carries his wounded comrade to the field hospital it's the grizzly sergeant who's wounded and dies, not one of his buddies. Finally, sensitive Paul is killed by a sniper as he reaches out of the trench to grab a butterfly, not by a bayonet in some underground battle with French soldiers.
Basically, this new version shows realistic blood and gore, the accumulation of which disillusions Paul, although the only way we can tell is how wide-open his eyes become. If you want to see bloody trench warfare and not the full journey of Paul Baumer from eager recruit to disillusioned veteran, this new version of AQOTWF is for you. I prefer the original and the subsequent TV version.
Finally, the co-plot of the peace negotiations in the railway cars is both annoying and irrelevant. The decision of the Germans to attack one more time before 11 a.m. When the armistice would take effect is hard to believe. I wonder if there is any historic equivalent of this, and if not, it was a poor choice to set up the ultimate demise of Paul Baumer.
Inspired by the patriotic harangues by their school teacher, they go to boot camp, where they are turned into hardened fighting men by a sadistic drill sergeant. On their first exposure to the front lines they install new barbed wire at night in front of their trenches, only to see one comrade caught in the wire and killed by an enemy sniper.
They finally are stationed in the trenches where a grisly sergeant shows Paul how his portable shovel will be his best weapon in hand-to-hand combat. (In the new movie Paul is quite handy with his shovel but we never know where or how he developed that talent.) Also in the original, one of his buddies gets new boots and is promptly killed by a sniper. Another friend takes the boots and is soon killed. This "cursed boots" element was a way to focus on the deaths of each of his friends.
Also left out of this new version is the weekend sojourned the boys spent on leave with some rural French girls who were more than willing to trade their hospitality for bread, which the German soldiers had in abundance. Later, when Paul carries his wounded comrade to the field hospital it's the grizzly sergeant who's wounded and dies, not one of his buddies. Finally, sensitive Paul is killed by a sniper as he reaches out of the trench to grab a butterfly, not by a bayonet in some underground battle with French soldiers.
Basically, this new version shows realistic blood and gore, the accumulation of which disillusions Paul, although the only way we can tell is how wide-open his eyes become. If you want to see bloody trench warfare and not the full journey of Paul Baumer from eager recruit to disillusioned veteran, this new version of AQOTWF is for you. I prefer the original and the subsequent TV version.
Finally, the co-plot of the peace negotiations in the railway cars is both annoying and irrelevant. The decision of the Germans to attack one more time before 11 a.m. When the armistice would take effect is hard to believe. I wonder if there is any historic equivalent of this, and if not, it was a poor choice to set up the ultimate demise of Paul Baumer.