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First War Movie on the List

As you can probably imagine, many of the movies on the AFI's top 100 movie list are war movies. Tonight was the first war movie Brian and watched from the list. We watched All Quiet on the Western Front and boy was it a hard movie to watch. The film takes place during World War I and follows a group of young German men who enlist in the army. With the first battle scene you feel how scary a battle must have been with bombs dropping on all sides and never knowing if the next one would land in your foxhole or someone else's. There was also the psychological factor of watching the soldiers either become injured, lose comrades, or die themselves.

Even though war movies aren't my favorite I did like this one because it didn't glorify war as so many of them do. This one was filled with the raw emotion of loss of innocence and death. I can't say that I would watch it again just because it was such a hard movie to watch. However, I'm glad I did watch it this one time. All Quiet on the Western Front came in at number 54 on the AFI list.

The director was trying to make a statement about the harsh realities of war from what it was like to be in a foxhole to the fact that people back home didn't understand what it was truly like for these soldiers. The statement was clear and pointed. From a film making standpoint, the special effects (sounds of bombs falling and then exploding upon landing) were very realistic. Also, the acting was incredible, extremely well done. The haunting final scene will stay with you for a long long time. For all these reasons I give the movie a thumbs up.

Brian agrees it was very well put together and also gives the movie a thumbs up.

Stay tuned for our next movie review discussing the film City Lights starring Charlie Chaplin.

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