The film All Quiet On The Western Front is of historical fiction genre, because as with the book on which it was based, it is historical because of when it is set and the actions taken in the film (the writer of the book was in the German army in WW1) but fictional because of the characters and scenarios contained in both the book and the film.
The plot line loosely follows that of the book, but it captures the key points in the plot, which are crucial to the storyline. The basic plot is as follows:
At the beginning of the film early in the war, the headmaster of Paul Baumer's school Kantorek delivers a patriotic speech to the senior class about how patriotic and honourable it is to die for your country or as he put it, 'The Fatherland'. This persuades Baumer, Muller, Tjaden, Leer, Kemmerich and several others to enlist in the army.
The next scene is training, where the group meet "the terror of Klosterberg Barracks", Corporal Himmelstoss. The group greet Himmelstoss, a postman that they knew previously and Himmelstoss responds by telling them off for it. Then there are parade ground drills, afterwhich the company is ordered to sing on their return to the barracks. They do so less than satisfactorily and cop; more drills for punishment. Needless to say, the singing on the second try was much better.
As revenge for this and several other acts of punishment and/or self help ordered by Himmelstoss, Tjaden (who despises Himmelstoss the most) leads the group to exact revenge by ambushing Himmelstoss one night. They do this by thowing a quilt cover over him and brutishly clobbering him. They then run away before Himmelstoss can find out who did it.
The group is quickly transferred to the front lines, where they meet Westhus, Kat and others. The groups quickly become friends, and often take advantage of Kat's ability to find food anywhere.
Soon, the company moves into the trenches, where they experience shelling for the first time. Kat and the veterans calmly sit through it while the new recruits with them are badly shaken by it all. The dugout they are in shakes at bit, causing Kemmerich to freak and run outside. A shell lands next to him injuring his leg badly.
The shelling eventually draws to an end, and the Allied forces mount a charge, with many of the chargers being mown down by machine gun fire. Some get through though and invade the German trenches, resulting in furious hand to hand combat. German reinforcements come up, and the charge is quelled.
The company returns to the camp with half their number and are held up by the cook over the rations. Tjaden argues with the cook, saying that 'you made rations for a hundred and fifty, and there is only about eighty of us left, so let us have double rations. The cook stalls, saying that he has to wait for the whole company to arrive, and recieves a reply of 'this is the whole company'. Eventually an officer arrives on scene and orders the cook to give out all of the food. The cook complies albeit grudgingly.
The next day, Baumer, and the rest of the school group visit Kemmerich in the dressing station, where he has had his right leg amputated. Kemmerich groans that his right foot hurts and Muller starts to comment but is shut up by Paul. The group has brought Kemmerich's things along with them and are told to put them under the bed, which is when Muller casts eyes on Kemmerich's leather boots, that were taken from a British soldier.
Paul returns a couple of days later to find Kemmerich getting worse by the minute. It isn't long before Kemmerich dies in front of him. Paul takes the boots with him to give to Muller.
The group is then transferred back to the trenches and it is during yet another shelling that they are sitting in another dugout and of all people, Himmelstoss walks in. He is greeted in a less than favourable way. Himmelstoss yells about how you need to show respect to your superiors, and Kropp replies with 'So the next time we go up the line, Corporal, sir, the platoons will all parade out in front of you before they die, click their heels and request in proper military fashion "Permission to fall out, sir! Permission to fall down dead, sir!" People like you are all we need out here, Corporal, sir.'
Not long after, a German offensive is launched on a small town. Within a minute, Himmelstoss freaks due to mortars going off all around him and takes cover in a shell hole. Paul finds him there and unsuccessfully tries to get him to continue the charge. An officer quickly comes across the scene and orders Himmelstoss to keep going. Himmelstoss gets up and keeps charging.
The attack fails, and the Germans retreat back to their lines. Paul gets pinned down in a shell hole, and gets a surprise in the form of an enemy soldier jumping down into the hole with him. Paul quickly stabs him and waits for the shelling to cease.
The shelling goes on for ages, during which Paul has been stuck in the hole with a slowly dying soldier with him. It's too much for Baumer, who quickly becomes distressed and starts to ramble on about it. Soon though, the shelling stops and Paul flees back to the German lines. When he gets back, Kat tries to calm Paul down from his experience.
The company is transferred back to a camp behind the lines, with Paul and Albert Kropp gazing at a poster of a girl from a past concert. Neither can believe that these things still exist in their world. They rip the poster off the wall and take it with them to their billets. They meet Tjaden and Leer there and continue talking about the poster.
In the next scene, the four of them are having a swim in a nearby canal, when a trio of Fench girls walk past. Leer yells out to them and gets their attention, then the four of them try to piece together whatever French they know to keep the girls' interest. Eventually, arrangements are made for them to visit the girls that night.
Paul, Kropp and Leer sneak over to the girl's house that night, with loaves of bread and sausages as gifts for them. The girls let them in and quickly tuck into the food. Then Paul, Leer and Kropp take a girl each and spend time alone with them.
The next day, the company prepares for another offensive but on the way to the trenches pass a stack of coffins. Grim jokes are made throughout the company about it. All of a sudden, the formatoin is shelled and several are wounded or killed. Among them are Paul and Kropp. They are both yaken to a dressing station, where Kropp gets his leg amputated.
Soon after this, Paul gets to take leave and go home to see his family. He arrives to see that his ill mother cannot recognize him for the uniform. Paul also finds that regardless of the situation at the front, there is talk about taking Paris. Then Paul visits his old school and realizes that Kantorek is still all about the patriotic speeches. Kantorek gets him to tell the class what it's like in the trenches, to which Paul says that 'dying for country is not honorable at all, and that hundreds are dying out there every day'. This is met with much jeering from the students who call Paul a coward for saying such things. The experience annoys Paul enough to make him return from leave early.
Paul returns to the front to find that only Kat is alive from his old gang. They quickly discuss their different situations, and head back to camp. On the way, they come under fire from an aircraft. Kat gets hit btwice and quickly dies from the wounds. Kat's death leaves only Paul Baumer standing.
In a trench with several other German soldiers, Paul feels very much alone. It's this that prompted him to reach for a butterfly not far from where he was positioned. Paul was shot by a sniper while reaching for the butterfly.
There is no real soundtrack to the film, unless you count the pounding of artillery as such. This helps to capture the mood of the film and the belying story, as there is no distracting music for the viewer to contend with.
The audience could be anyone from ages 12 up I believe, as in the 1930 edition, there is no particularly nasty moments, nasty moments being where someone gets shot and blood sprays everywhere. In this edition, the effect on people when they are shot is simply falling down holding themselves.
The setting is primarily in the trenches or the camps behind them, but other places that feature are Paul's school, his home, a bar, Klosterberg Barracks and several other minor places.
As noted in the 'Origin of The Film' page, the purpose of this film, as with the book it was based on is to show the real side of war: because the novel was anti-war, it makes sense that the film adaptation will be as well.
The plot line loosely follows that of the book, but it captures the key points in the plot, which are crucial to the storyline. The basic plot is as follows:
There is no real soundtrack to the film, unless you count the pounding of artillery as such. This helps to capture the mood of the film and the belying story, as there is no distracting music for the viewer to contend with.
The audience could be anyone from ages 12 up I believe, as in the 1930 edition, there is no particularly nasty moments, nasty moments being where someone gets shot and blood sprays everywhere. In this edition, the effect on people when they are shot is simply falling down holding themselves.
The setting is primarily in the trenches or the camps behind them, but other places that feature are Paul's school, his home, a bar, Klosterberg Barracks and several other minor places.
As noted in the 'Origin of The Film' page, the purpose of this film, as with the book it was based on is to show the real side of war: because the novel was anti-war, it makes sense that the film adaptation will be as well.