Category: WWI Literature

𝚃𝚑𝚛𝚘𝚞𝚐𝚑𝚘𝚞𝚝 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚍𝚞𝚛𝚊𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗 𝚘𝚏 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚜 𝚖𝚎𝚕𝚊𝚗𝚌𝚑𝚘𝚕𝚒𝚌 𝚏𝚒𝚕𝚖, 𝚊 𝚙𝚕𝚎𝚝𝚑𝚘𝚛𝚊 𝚘𝚏 𝚎𝚖𝚘𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗𝚜 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚝𝚑𝚘𝚞𝚐𝚑𝚝-𝚙𝚛𝚘𝚟𝚘𝚔𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚚𝚞𝚎𝚜𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗𝚜 𝚎𝚗𝚌𝚊𝚙𝚜𝚞𝚕𝚊𝚝𝚎𝚍 𝚖𝚢 𝚎𝚡𝚒𝚜𝚝𝚎𝚗𝚌𝚎. 𝙼𝚘𝚜𝚝 𝚘𝚏 𝚊𝚕𝚕, 𝙸 𝚌𝚘𝚗𝚝𝚎𝚖𝚙𝚕𝚊𝚝𝚎𝚍, 𝚑𝚘𝚠 𝚌𝚘𝚞𝚕𝚍 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚜𝚎 𝚠𝚘𝚖𝚎𝚗 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚌𝚑𝚒𝚕𝚍𝚛𝚎𝚗 𝚠𝚎𝚕𝚌𝚘𝚖𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚒𝚛 𝚕𝚘𝚟𝚎𝚍 𝚘𝚗𝚎𝚜 𝚋𝚊𝚌𝚔 𝚒𝚗𝚝𝚘 𝚜𝚘𝚌𝚒𝚎𝚝𝚢 𝚜𝚙𝚎𝚊𝚔 𝚘𝚏 𝚜𝚞𝚌𝚑 𝚊 𝚟𝚒𝚌𝚒𝚘𝚞𝚜 𝚏𝚘𝚞𝚛-𝚢𝚎𝚊𝚛-𝚕𝚘𝚗𝚐 𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚗𝚝 𝚊𝚜 𝚝𝚑𝚘𝚞𝚐𝚑 𝚒𝚝 𝚠𝚎𝚛𝚎 𝚜𝚘𝚖𝚎 𝚎𝚞𝚙𝚑𝚘𝚛𝚒𝚌, 𝚝𝚛𝚒𝚞𝚖𝚙𝚑𝚊𝚗𝚝 𝚐𝚊𝚖𝚎? 𝙷𝚘𝚠 𝚌𝚘𝚞𝚕𝚍 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚜𝚎 𝚌𝚒𝚝𝚒𝚣𝚎𝚗𝚜 𝚑𝚊𝚟𝚎 𝚜𝚞𝚌𝚑 𝚊 𝚏𝚊𝚕𝚕𝚊𝚌𝚒𝚘𝚞𝚜 𝚟𝚒𝚎𝚠 𝚘𝚏 𝚊𝚗 𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚗𝚝 𝚠𝚑𝚒𝚌𝚑 𝚔𝚒𝚕𝚕𝚎𝚍 𝚖𝚒𝚕𝚕𝚒𝚘𝚗𝚜? 𝙼𝚢 𝚏𝚎𝚎𝚋𝚕𝚎 𝚖𝚒𝚗𝚍 𝚌𝚘𝚞𝚕𝚍 𝚘𝚗𝚕𝚢 𝚋𝚎𝚐𝚒𝚗 𝚝𝚘 𝚐𝚛𝚊𝚜𝚙 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚌𝚎𝚛𝚝𝚊𝚒𝚗𝚝𝚢 𝚒𝚗 𝚠𝚑𝚒𝚌𝚑 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚜𝚎 𝚢𝚘𝚞𝚗𝚐 𝚝𝚛𝚘𝚘𝚙𝚜 𝚠𝚎𝚛𝚎 𝚖𝚎𝚛𝚎𝚕𝚢 𝚊 𝚢𝚎𝚊𝚛 𝚘𝚛 𝚝𝚠𝚘 𝚘𝚕𝚍𝚎𝚛 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚗 𝚝𝚑𝚘𝚜𝚎 𝚜𝚎𝚊𝚝𝚎𝚍 𝚠𝚒𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚗 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚜 𝚌𝚕𝚊𝚜𝚜𝚛𝚘𝚘𝚖.

𝚃𝚑𝚎𝚜𝚎 𝚞𝚗𝚍𝚎𝚛𝚊𝚐𝚎𝚍 𝚝𝚛𝚘𝚘𝚙𝚜 𝚑𝚊𝚍 𝚎𝚗𝚝𝚎𝚛𝚎𝚍 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚠𝚊𝚛 𝚠𝚒𝚝𝚑 𝚊𝚗 𝚎𝚊𝚐𝚎𝚛 𝚊𝚝𝚝𝚒𝚝𝚞𝚍𝚎, 𝚗𝚘𝚝 𝚘𝚗𝚌𝚎 𝚌𝚘𝚖𝚙𝚛𝚎𝚑𝚎𝚗𝚍𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚋𝚛𝚞𝚝𝚊𝚕 𝚜𝚌𝚎𝚗𝚎𝚜 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚢 𝚠𝚘𝚞𝚕𝚍 𝚕𝚊𝚝𝚎𝚛 𝚠𝚒𝚝𝚗𝚎𝚜𝚜. 𝙸𝚝 𝚠𝚊𝚜 𝚊𝚕𝚖𝚘𝚜𝚝 𝚊𝚜 𝚝𝚑𝚘𝚞𝚐𝚑 𝚝𝚑𝚘𝚜𝚎 𝚠𝚎𝚕𝚌𝚘𝚖𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚋𝚊𝚌𝚔 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚜𝚎 𝚝𝚛𝚊𝚞𝚖𝚊𝚝𝚒𝚣𝚎𝚍 𝚝𝚛𝚘𝚘𝚙𝚜 𝚑𝚊𝚍 𝚐𝚛𝚘𝚠𝚗 𝚝𝚘 𝚛𝚘𝚖𝚊𝚗𝚝𝚒𝚌𝚒𝚣𝚎 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚠𝚊𝚛 𝚝𝚘 𝚊 𝚌𝚎𝚛𝚝𝚊𝚒𝚗 𝚎𝚡𝚝𝚎𝚗𝚝 𝚊𝚜 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚒𝚛 𝚏𝚊𝚕𝚜𝚎 𝚜𝚎𝚗𝚜𝚎𝚜 𝚘𝚏 𝚜𝚎𝚌𝚞𝚛𝚒𝚝𝚢 𝚌𝚘𝚗𝚝𝚒𝚗𝚞𝚘𝚞𝚜𝚕𝚢 𝚐𝚛𝚎𝚠. 𝙸𝚝 𝚒𝚜 𝚜𝚘 𝚎𝚊𝚜𝚢 𝚝𝚘 𝚜𝚊𝚢 𝚝𝚘 𝚘𝚗𝚎𝚜𝚎𝚕𝚏, 𝚑𝚘𝚠 𝚌𝚘𝚞𝚕𝚍 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚜𝚎 𝚠𝚘𝚖𝚎𝚗 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚌𝚑𝚒𝚕𝚍𝚛𝚎𝚗 𝚑𝚊𝚟𝚎 𝚋𝚎𝚎𝚗 𝚜𝚘 𝚗𝚊𝚒𝚟𝚎𝚕𝚢 𝚘𝚞𝚝 𝚘𝚏 𝚝𝚘𝚞𝚌𝚑? 𝚈𝚎𝚝 𝚜𝚒𝚖𝚞𝚕𝚝𝚊𝚗𝚎𝚘𝚞𝚜𝚕𝚢 𝚒𝚝 𝚠𝚊𝚜 𝚊𝚜 𝚝𝚑𝚘𝚞𝚐𝚑 𝚊 𝚙𝚘𝚛𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗 𝚘𝚏 𝚖𝚢𝚜𝚎𝚕𝚏 𝚍𝚎𝚎𝚙 𝚍𝚘𝚠𝚗 𝚑𝚊𝚍 𝚌𝚘𝚗𝚜𝚝𝚊𝚗𝚝𝚕𝚢 𝚋𝚎𝚎𝚗 𝚊𝚟𝚘𝚒𝚍𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚜 𝚝𝚘𝚙𝚒𝚌.

𝚂𝚘𝚘𝚗𝚎𝚛 𝚛𝚊𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚛 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚗 𝚕𝚊𝚝𝚎𝚛, 𝙸 𝚑𝚊𝚍 𝚌𝚘𝚖𝚎 𝚝𝚘 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚌𝚘𝚗𝚌𝚕𝚞𝚜𝚒𝚘𝚗 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚜𝚘𝚗 𝚊 𝚙𝚊𝚛𝚝 𝚘𝚏 𝚖𝚢𝚜𝚎𝚕𝚏 𝚠𝚊𝚜 𝚋𝚎𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚙𝚛𝚘𝚟𝚘𝚔𝚎𝚍 𝚋𝚢 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚜𝚝𝚊𝚝𝚎𝚖𝚎𝚗𝚝, 𝚠𝚊𝚜 𝚋𝚎𝚌𝚊𝚞𝚜𝚎 𝙸 𝚠𝚊𝚜 𝚗𝚘𝚝 𝚘𝚗𝚕𝚢 𝚌𝚊𝚕𝚕𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚘𝚞𝚝 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚠𝚘𝚖𝚎𝚗 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚌𝚑𝚒𝚕𝚍𝚛𝚎𝚗, 𝚋𝚞𝚝 𝚗𝚘𝚗𝚎𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚕𝚎𝚜𝚜 𝙸 𝚠𝚊𝚜 𝚎𝚡𝚙𝚘𝚜𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚖𝚢𝚜𝚎𝚕𝚏. 𝙸𝚗 𝚠𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚞𝚗𝚒𝚟𝚎𝚛𝚜𝚎 𝚠𝚊𝚜 𝙸, 𝚘𝚏 𝚊𝚕𝚕 𝚙𝚎𝚘𝚙𝚕𝚎, 𝚝𝚘 𝚜𝚙𝚎𝚊𝚔 𝚊𝚋𝚘𝚞𝚝 𝚋𝚎𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚗𝚊𝚒𝚟𝚎𝚕𝚢 𝚘𝚞𝚝 𝚘𝚏 𝚝𝚘𝚞𝚌𝚑 𝚠𝚒𝚝𝚑 𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚕𝚒𝚝𝚢? 𝙸 𝚕𝚒𝚟𝚎 𝚒𝚗 𝚊 𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚕𝚒𝚝𝚢 𝚒𝚗 𝚠𝚑𝚒𝚌𝚑 𝙸 𝚑𝚊𝚟𝚎 𝚒𝚖𝚖𝚎𝚗𝚜𝚎𝚕𝚢 𝚖𝚘𝚛𝚎 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚗 𝚠𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝙸 𝚗𝚎𝚎𝚍 𝚝𝚘 𝚜𝚞𝚛𝚟𝚒𝚟𝚎, 𝚘𝚗𝚎 𝚠𝚑𝚎𝚛𝚎 𝚖𝚢 𝚐𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚝𝚎𝚜𝚝 𝚒𝚜𝚜𝚞𝚎 𝚒𝚜 𝚋𝚎𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚊𝚌𝚌𝚎𝚙𝚝𝚎𝚍 𝚒𝚗𝚝𝚘 𝚊𝚗 𝙸𝚟𝚢 𝙻𝚎𝚊𝚐𝚞𝚎 𝚞𝚗𝚒𝚟𝚎𝚛𝚜𝚒𝚝𝚢, 𝚊 𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚕𝚒𝚝𝚢 𝚠𝚑𝚎𝚛𝚎 𝚘𝚞𝚛 𝚖𝚘𝚜𝚝 𝚌𝚘𝚖𝚖𝚘𝚗 𝚍𝚒𝚕𝚎𝚖𝚖𝚊 𝚒𝚜 𝚛𝚎𝚌𝚎𝚒𝚟𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚊 𝚜𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚗 𝚘𝚛 𝚊𝚗 𝚎𝚒𝚐𝚑𝚝. 𝙰𝚜 𝚠𝚎 𝚊𝚛𝚐𝚞𝚎 𝚘𝚟𝚎𝚛 𝚠𝚑𝚘 𝚑𝚊𝚍 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚖𝚘𝚜𝚝 𝚊𝚌𝚌𝚞𝚛𝚊𝚝𝚎 𝚊𝚗𝚜𝚠𝚎𝚛, 𝚠𝚎 𝚏𝚘𝚛𝚐𝚎𝚝 𝚊𝚋𝚘𝚞𝚝 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚖𝚒𝚕𝚕𝚒𝚘𝚗𝚜 𝚘𝚏 𝚌𝚑𝚒𝚕𝚍𝚛𝚎𝚗 𝚕𝚒𝚟𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚒𝚗 𝚙𝚘𝚟𝚎𝚛𝚝𝚢, 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚌𝚑𝚒𝚕𝚍𝚛𝚎𝚗 𝚠𝚑𝚘 𝚠𝚘𝚞𝚕𝚍 𝚛𝚒𝚜𝚔 𝚊 𝚕𝚒𝚖𝚋 𝚏𝚘𝚛 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚘𝚙𝚙𝚘𝚛𝚝𝚞𝚗𝚒𝚝𝚒𝚎𝚜 𝚑𝚊𝚗𝚍𝚎𝚍 𝚝𝚘 𝚞𝚜.

When we talk about war I think we can all agree that the most memorable one are World War 1 and World War 2.
Today we are talking about the film ‘They Shall Not Grow Old’ which is based on World War 1. When I first saw the film in class, I realized that war is not a game. In the beginning of the film we saw how the Britain recruited their soldiers. We know that most of them were underage because their age range is between 19 to 35 but some teenagers aged 17 and 8 still attended the war and when they were asked they all faked their age to be 19.
In the beginning all of the Britain thought the war was game like but obviously it is not a game. It is a war you have to be aware of everything around you or you are gone, so I don’t think that this is a game.
During the training of the army the soldiers had learned who they were and what they were good at the funniest part for me was when one of the old soldier sang the song for their food ‘Pickler’s jam’ and it sure was a good song.
If I had to go to war my most concerned part is not death is the cleanliness part, according to the film the Britain had dug a hole for secretions and just sitting on a log which might be unstable and one time four Britain soldiers had fell into it yuck and having to wear the uniform for how long the war goes, good bye!
The most interesting thing for me was before they went on the battle field they drank alcohol so called ‘liquid courage’ I am really curious about it since I have never tried any alcohol I don’t know what they would do to your body.
It sure is lucky for us now that we don’t have a war and have peace everyday I wish this could be kept on everyday.

When this assignment was initially introduced, my immediate thought went to the 2010 Sci-fi movie Inception, directed by Christopher Nolan. To provide a brief synopsis, the movie demonstrates the manipulation of the subconsciousness. The protagonist, Cobb, constructs a team with the objection of implementing an idea into someone else’s mind while overcoming his personal subconscious issues.

Although the movie is undeniably impressive; with engaging scenarios, an unpredictable narrative, and depth and maturity in the acting, I never acquired the same passion and enthusiasm that I kept hearing about. It’s the type of movie where you won’t and can’t understand and capture all the meanings and details the first time you watch it. I arguably found the plot of Inception overly complicated and somewhat confusing. This response may simply be because of the complex concept the plot attempted to communicate; however, I could almost say that I was dissatisfied with the ending, feeling as though I was left yearning for answers. As if a primary aspect was left missing. I realized this response was derived from the continuous transition between the settings of limbo and reality.

I imagine that the universal word to describe the concept of a dream is otherworldly. A place where logic, normalcies, and motion are defied and your mind is consumed by unstructured perceptions. I felt this stereotype was almost opposed, with Nolan implementing an entirely altered approach. Their dream world, known as limbo, appeared quite constricted and systematic. Rather than exploring the numerous different ways their dream world could’ve been expressed, it represented a structured and almost identical setting to the real world, other than the defiance of physics and gravity. The concept of limbo wasn’t properly channeled and expanded, almost eliminating the purpose of manipulating this context. The result was almost disappointing, as if minimal imagination and phenomena were included to create a supernatural environment.

Although I felt the subconsciousness concept wasn’t capitalized, it did encourage me to explore an alternative theory. Everything in life begins with an idea. As expressed in the movie, Cobb explains that “once an idea is planted into a person’s mind, it’ll change the person’s reality – forever.” It’s incomprehensible to think that everything in the physical world emerged from an idea and was originally created mentally. Everything must start from ideas in our minds, from the creation of computers to simply a pair of scissors. This brings forth the inquiry: Should humanity pay more attention to mental reality rather than physical reality? Instead of creating boundaries on what we view as doable, we should be more concerned about what we want and their possibilities. The strongest motivation for creation is inspiration, suggesting that to be successful in your physical reality, you must listen and acknowledge your mental reality first.

I have mixed feelings about “They Shall Not Grow Old” after watching it. The movie is excellent and shows many historical details I couldn’t have imagined. For example, there was a time when soldiers would steal footwear from dead persons if their shoes were in good condition.  I was also unaware that troops had time to smoke all the time. I had various ideas and opinions about how the battle would have looked in the past before watching this film. I had assumed that everyone understood what war was, but when I saw how excitedly men and boys went to battle as though it were an exciting adventure, I became confused. The fact that I don’t get overly moved by films and have no idea what it’s like to be at war and constantly hear gunfire is another reason I had mixed feelings after watching ‘They Shall Not Grow Old’. Though I sometimes get terrified when I think of the war in my country, it is nothing compared to what those people have gone through.

Throughout the documentary, They Shall Not Grow Old, I experienced a variety of profound emotions, ranging from sadness to confusion to hopelessness. I am cognizant that I cannot begin to fully understand or relate to the lives of the soldiers in World War 1, as I have never had to experience such a destructive event. That being said, the gruesome imagery and depictions of death so easily discussed provided a window into the unfiltered lives of the soldiers, allowing me to see the harsh reality of war. When hearing of the age of the soldiers enlisting, the stories’ poignancy was only enhanced. I have lived a fairly sheltered life, all things considered, so it seems unfathomable to imagine friends and family members of similar age in the same situation. Knowing that the soldiers had family and friends who loved them equally as much as I love mine is terrifying. No one speaks of the individual losses, always referring to the deaths on a grand scale, so hearing about their identities, aspirations, families, and lives made the authenticity and individuality of their characters all the more real.

How the film used colorization and sound restoration to give life to the war bridged the gap between past and present, humanizing the soldiers and giving them personality in a way that made it even more difficult to watch. It is one thing to hear of the horrors of war through statistics and history books, however, the realism that this film provided and having to watch the horrors unfold for myself was a stark reminder that they were just ordinary people thrust into a devastating situation. The most crushing realization was the juxtaposition between the innocent, and even excited young men, enlisting, to the harsh reality of the brutal warfare and conditions on the front lines. It was heartbreaking to think that most of these boys, who were once full of enthusiasm, never made it back home. This reality puts into perspective just how much they sacrificed for their countries, and provided a renewed sense of gratitude and appreciation for those who gave their lives for the cause.

 

If we talk about war, I will always be scared. I think it all started when all of my friends were obsessed with World Wars or Anna Frank. I never understood their enthusiasm and their passion about any of this; In fact I am quite sure I exhausted my dad in this topic. It became a regular thing that for three years, from when I was seven to ten years old, there was not a week that passed without me asking him once or twice a week, what would happen if a terrible war started in Mexico? What would he do? Would he stay and fight? or would we move to another country; He always answered me the same thing like something prerecorded. “I’ll stay here and fight for my country, but you my little girl, I will always make sure that your sisters, your mom and you are safe.” Then he would see me with my red eyes nearly crying and try to calm me down saying that I had nothing to worry about, that Mexico could not get into war, even if they tried. I was terrified of war and he knew it.

How can all these people sign in for war? If you ask me despite the fact that I am not an expert, I would blame the imagery. Looking at the pictures of the documentary “They Shall Not Grow Old” I am in fact convinced that a picture is worth a thousand words. If a thousand words can change your opinion about something I assure you that a good picture can too. There is a huge variety of images in the documentary, however I have decided to separate them into two categories:
Propaganda imagery that uses sexism to make people stand up with weapons by using well thought phrases directed to men and kids, for them to get soaked in courage and have no regrets at all! By using phrases such as “It’s just a big game!” clearly directed to kids and “Just a job!” for men gives us a tremendous importance about people’s perspective in that time that sadly is still there currently.

The other type of images I call them “look what we can do” or “look what they did to us”. What these pictures do is just make people mad. This is not direct propaganda, but still is. Historical pictures taken in war that you might see in a museum wake up emotions of frustration and anger, making most of them at that time nationalist. The consequence of this was that no matter what people lived in that living inferno that they refused to talk about, they were just trying to have more people signing in. It did not matter the life you had ahead of you, because they did not have the time to think about that.

For me it is really disappointing that after all, now and then, images of the terrible things that happened in war are still going to “play” or “do the job” if necessary. I think we as humans can not relate or even try to empathize with what happens or what they suffer. We only want to feel courageous and powerful no matter what.

Through the tone of the classroom, I assumed I was alone in my feeling of contempt. The film didn’t evoke a sort of sadness; in all honesty I didn’t feel anything. I was more concerned about the feelings of the people featured in the film than I was my own. I didn’t feel bad because the film didn’t confirm my pre thought image of WW1. Before watching the film, I imagined WW1 as very serious, violent and depressing. This thought of war was shaped by me by the previous teachings, the tone of the explanation of World War 1 further instilled in my thinking the seriousness of the topic. This was codirected by the film particularly by the narrations of the soldiers. They explained the war as such as a core memory, the tone was softer and talked about in a calm tone. The soldiers did not talk about the war in such a way I would talk about my personal sad memories. I would talk about my sad personal memories in a quieter tone and avoid making jokes. Towards the beginning of the film, I had no genuine instrest in film, nothing resonated with me. As the film progressed, I started feeling more connected to the characters and began gaining empathy. My interest in the film was only through empathy and not interest in the topic of WW1 itself.  

I was surprised at the beginning of the film, They Shall Not Grow Old, because of all the young people who enlisted in the war as if it were a game. Children of my age or a little older were signing up to their deaths as if it were the soccer team. This fearsome thought got me thinking about what would occur if there was a war in this century, how hesitant me and the people I know would be in joining the bloodshed. Throughout the film there were the voices of veteran soldiers explaining their thoughts and feelings about what was happening and every last of them expressed excitement and a sense of wonder which made me feel very uneasy.

I was particularly disgusted in the way they pressured kids to lie about their age and bully them into enrolling in the military. Soldiers usually had to be 19 years of age to be able to do this but everyone pretended to know none the better when it came to it. I remember one story that one of the veterans told. The young veteran had gone to enlist in WW1 but he was only 15 as he told the officer and to his and my surprise he was told to go then come back and say he was 19. I’ve always pictured soldiers as these robotic killing machines so it is hard for me to imagine them as adolescents with real life families strapped with guns. 

As the movie went on, the illusion that it was just a big game continued to fade. No man’s land was shown to be plagued by the deaths of both British troops and the German ones. It was haunting for me to see the surface of how much violence there was, the artillery barrage killing countless people in mere seconds or the gut-wrenching images of soldiers getting their heads blown off by the seemingly endless rain of machine gun bullets. There were stories told of the men hiding in holes in the ground to avoid getting killed but their teammates were not as lucky as they were bleeding to their death right next to brave soldiers.

I am glad that I watched these men telling their perspectives in the war because I have learned to understand the emotions that were felt during the harrowing days fighting.

The movie started in the vintage tones of black and white. Rows, and rows of boys with childish smiles as though it were Christmas morning, being marched to and unknowing point of no return. Proud to be serving the country and land they were born and brought up on.

The innovation of the camera brings a wondering look to many of the young faces as they march down roads or wait to be sent to the frontlines, and looking through these cameras brings a look of sorrow to my own.

As the film fades into colour, it feels surreal. The amount of young innocent youth marching into the loss of memories and joy to come. 600 in, 100 out, “we’ll get em’ next time”. This is the heart wrenching reality that was portrayed as “the battle plan” in the film ‘They Shall Not Grow Old’.

I feel great amounts of sorrow for all the poor mothers who had to watch their boys leave home with no return. I love my mother very much and I know if I even thought of going to war, she’d hold me down. The love in her heart is to passionate and overflowing to let me risk the rest of my life for a battle where very few feel they have won.

I felt a connection to this movie when the British soldiers jumped out of their trenches for the first time. These soldiers simultaneously knew exactly what they had to do while also knowing nothing about the situation. The goal of killing Germans is all they needed to know to push through. As they endure chaos and trauma they are numb. Nothing else to feel or see because they’ve felt and seen it all. As the veterans said, in no-mans-land you start to think about your past. You do this because in moments of fear, reminiscing of simpler times is easier than processing the present. They might start to remember playing outside on the streets as a schoolboy, or how much they cherished a special toy. As a soldier, you start to wonder, “Am I going to become just like the others? Lying dead in the dirt, with such a rich past shot into nothing”. I understand how the soldiers felt as here they describe how weeks of training and years of living amount to this small but crucial point in their lives. I connect with the soldiers to the extent that your whole life is resting on one event. For them, this event is being killed, for me, this event determines the rest of my childhood. Until I am 18, I’ll be forced into change. Tell me, and the soldiers, how are we supposed to live stagnant with the fact that our lives will never be the same?

From Keith Law:

All Quiet on the Western Front took home nine nominations for this year’s Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Adapted Screenplay, and Best international Feature (as Germany’s submission). It is, as you might know, adapted from Erich Maria Remarque’s 1929 novel of World War I. It’s big, and epic, and certainly lets you know where everyone involves stands on the subject of war. (They think it’s bad.) It’s also a film that doesn’t have any good reason to exist.

You can read the entire review here.