All Quiet on the Western Front (1930)
Based on the German novel of the same name this American adaptation won both best director and best film awards at the Oscars. Some German boys in a class are talked into signing up to fight in the First World War by their teacher and go off to find that life on the front lines is not all they were lead to believe.
This is the original and archetypal anti war film and it really does stand the test of time. While this film was now made 80 years ago the production quality still holds up and the battle sequences are especially impressive given the way modern film makers rely on the crutch of CGI. It is refreshing to see the story told from a German point of view and the plot is much as you would expect, soldiers let down by poor leadership in a pointless war. Some of the acting is a bit hammy for modern standards but is not to such levels that it damages the film.
4/5 a very good first world war film.
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