A Masterpiece of German Realism

Erich Maria Remarque’s 1929 book is a classic about the futility of a great power war, so much so that it got banned by the Nazis. The movie stays remarkably close to the original's sentiment. The book and the movie start with the early days of the Great War, the last feudal war where rules of civility and honor were still followed. A bunch of 17-year-old schoolboys cheer their Prussian history teacher who charges them with defending Kaiser, God, and fatherland, and they head off to a man-made horror far beyond their dim-witted comprehension.