Movie: All Quiet on the Western Front

Focus Activity: What are the general characteristics of your parents’ generation or grandparents’ generation?  How would you describe your own generation?

Journal Writing:  Take 10 minutes to free-write about your impression of the older generation and younger generation.  In general, do you respect the opinions of persons older than you?  Do you think older people have the same values or perspectives that younger people do?  Do you think all young people have the same values and points of view?  Explain.

ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT
(Download the Worksheet Here)

1. What is the title of this film? When was it made? Who wrote the original novel?
2. Why did the students join the Army?
3. What role did the mailman (Himmelstoess) have? Was he particularly mean to these recruits? Give an example.
4. How were conditions at the Western Front different from their expectations in training camp
5. What was the impact of the shelling on the new recruits?
6. What happened after the bombardment?
7. In the attack, what did the machine gun do to the glory of war and individual heroism?
8. How many of the company died in this first battle? How do you know? Why were they able to eat so well finally?
9. Who did they blame for this war? Who did they omit in their list of potential villains?
10. What happened to Kemmerich's boots? How did the doctors' react to Kemmerich's plight?
11. How was Sgt. Himmelstoess received when he arrived at the front?
12. What was the pattern of a battle? What preceded the attack? What followed it?
13. What happened to Paul Baumer when he found himself in a shellhole in No Man's Land with the French soldier?
14. Why did the French girls - ostensibly the enemy - accept the German soldiers?
15. After four years of war, how has the German homefront been affected? Were there still the parades, crowded streets, and joyous sounds of going off to war?
16. What were the attitudes of the men in the beer hall? Were they willing to listen to what Paul had to say?
17. How does Paul Baumer confront his former teacher? How do the young students react to his vision of the war?
18. How has the company changed during Paul's absence?
19. What is ironic about Kat's and Paul's deaths? [Note: The war ended on November 11, 1918.]
20. Describe the attitude of this movie towards World War I and all wars.
21. What is the significance of the title of the movie All Quiet on the Western Front.
22. Where was the Western Front?
23. Why does Paul Baumer feel betrayed by the adults in his life?
24. Which advancements in science and technology during World War I were depicted in the battle scenes in All Quiet on the Western Front?
25. Why does Paul Baumer feel separate and different from his family and the people in his town when he goes home to visit?
26. Are there any heroes in All Quiet on the Western Front? What is the nature of their heroism? Are there any villains in the novel? What makes them villainous?
27. Hitler banned the book All Quiet on the Western Front at the beginning of World War II and had copies of the novel burned.  Is there ever any good reason for censorship of antiwar material? Why or why not?
28. Was Remarque (the author of the book the movie was based on) making a statement with the ironic way he kills off some characters — veteran soldiers who survive many terrible fights but end up dying anyway when they aren’t in battle?  Why?
29. World War I was known as a “total war” because it involved the efforts of many civilians in addition to the military. Today, however, warfare can be drastically different. How would All Quiet on the Western Front be different if it were told from the perspective of a modern day American soldier during, say, the war in the Persian Gulf? What events would be different? What ideas and issues might change.

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Worksheet for reading the novel:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0Bwhy5BkICGK1YmF3NUhIekNyXzQ/view?usp=sharing

As you watch the movie, "All Quiet on the Western Front", answer the questions on your handout and complete a "cluster diagram (see below) of the sights, sounds, smells, and feelings you see portrayed.  Sights and sounds are easier, and feelings can be implied... but smells will probably be the most difficult to imagine.