"All Quiet on the Western Front": Movie and the Book

Essay by xemo69High School, 12th gradeA, January 2007

download word file, 3 pages 3.7 1 reviews

In contemporary culture, many of the classic stories have been promoted as motion pictures and became major celebrations of literature, including Erich Maria Remarque's All Quiet on the Western Front. Using advanced technology, the globe can see Paul Bäumer's story being vividly retold. However, there are both strength and weakness about the film adaptation of the novel. For All Quiet on the Western Front, even though both novel and movie portray the main idea, the movie version lacks effective emotions and descriptive details as the novel abounds in them.

Using the main universal truth of dehumanization of war, Remarque presents to us the compelling story of Paul Baumer, who goes through the most traumatic experience in life as he loses all his dearest friends and becomes estranged to his past. Both the novel and movie successfully bring out the theme of the terrible brutality of war, just in different ways.

Using figurative language skill, Remarque in the novel illustrates the psychological damage on soldiers while the movie, using visual effects, shows the physical damage. As a result, they both send an eloquent message about the horror of war. Also, Paul's character is appropriately developed in both novel and the movie. In the novel, readers can go into Paul's mind and comprehend his thoughts; in the movie, audience can see Paul's facial expression and straightforward reaction towards various events. It is hard to judge which version of the story is better because both the novel and the movie achieve the goal of revealing the truth of war.

The film version of All Quiet on the Western Front should be greatly credited because it moves the audience with thrilling scenes while the words in the novel are simply black and white. The novel requires the readers to have unconstrained imagination in...