Although remade, the original packs a punch the remake doesn't, mainly because it being made in black and white and when it was made giving it an authenticity that is hard to replicate. The characters are well sculpted and acted, and he message resonate down the ages, with the failure to heed it in WWII adding to its strength

The movie begins like the future documentary Triumph of the Will, with brave German soldiers marching in a German village, with call to courage, motherland, bla, bla, bla... Sure when those rookies finally train and go to the front, it's something really totally different and it's called reality: when you watch your comrades falling, throwing their guts, you find that there is no explanation to such a butchery! You realize that the only winners are firms that sells weapons, politicians who claim war and never do it, safe in their palace and that finally all those young lost lives have been useless... Sure the movie speaks like no other and there is really inspired moments, especially the final scene but honestly, a war or anti-war movie in black and white during the WWI and for 2 hours are however too much for me...

---spoiler---Yes, the movie is about that and that only. There is not another message for us. Maybe it is the only disadvantage of the film, that sending its message plainly, other than telling it secretly. In the beginning of the film, the characters were having a lively high school time, seeing everything as naive-youngsters, but then with the flame of the youth they decided to join the army with having only heroic dreams. They were shocked in the battlefield. Because there were only torturing by elders, hunger, fatigue, blood, death and horror. The scene of being in a hole with the enemy is a wonderful way to point out the incoherence of war. It was depicted so well that thinking about that enemy had dreams, a family, people who'd wait for him just like everybody else, in other conditions he would not even had an argument with him, and because of the governments would not agree on something, he must kill the enemy. Themetaphor of shoe is perfect. The young man with the most beautiful shoes had lost his legs. The high school friends of him who normalized the situation, asked to him forgive away the shoes to them. A lot of people have these shoes, some of them dies, some of them lose legs. We do not blame the shoes, they are not unlucky, the wearers are not unlucky, all the blame is on the war. The character who turned home for a while told everyone that they were losing the war had different reactions from the society. The elderboldy said that they should going to the Paris, the children who were at his age before the war, told him that he was a coward and traitor. The tried to tell that war brings only death but nobody listened to him and he realized the only ones who understand him were his mates from front line. Front line was his home. Despite the fact that movie was filmed 86 years ago, bombing and war scenes are wonderful. Although there are many followers, it is the most fascinating movie bout anti-war propaganda.---spoiler---

I cannot really say much except that this film is a piece of work that would make anyone who watched it a pacifist; the grim anti-war message is further supported by the loss of innocence by the main character Paul, the ignorance of the slaughter on the home front by the folks and general behind the front lines in relative safety, and the romanticism of the glories of war held by Paul's professor. With all this is a dark coming-of-age story and a test of manhood and what it means to be a "brave, noble soldier" in spite of terrible conditions and unwinnable battles.My personal problem with this film is that, due to the time it was made, over-acting and melodramatics are employed by the young guys in the film. The adults are very believable and play their part succinctly and without a thespian air--the young men in this film are almost wincingly bad in some places regarding subtly: It's almost non-existent in some scenes. Thankfully, all of that goes away when the characters are forced to charge enemy lines or retreat under shell fire.Another bump in the road that I don't know if it was intentional or not was that when a person fell I had no idea if they had been indeed hit by enemy fire or shrapnel or if they were simply taking cover. It was surprising when someone I thought must have been sniped actually continued to move forward, and somebody I thought was fine turned out to have a bullet in the leg.The slightly jarring fast-forward of enemy/ally advancement towards one trench or another with absolutely no sound calls upon the style of a silent newsreel. It's horrifying and sobering to watch, and I enjoyed every minute of it.