World Politics on Screen: Understanding International Relations through Popular Culture, by Mark Sachleben. University Press of Kentucky, 2018.
“Perhaps one of the most effective films of the post-First World War period, in terms of describing the war to a mass audience, is All Quiet on the Western Front (1930), an adaptation of the Erich Maria Remarque novel of the same name. As a foreword to the film, the opening title card explains to the viewer that the film is not intended to be accusatory but is designed to tell the story of a generation of men who were destroyed by war, even if they had escaped death. Nevertheless, while claiming that it does not lay blame for the war, the film is a clear indictment of at least World War I, if not war in general. The four years between 1914 and 1918 were so devastating and horrific that everyone in Europe knew someone who had died or was seriously injured on the battlefield.”