All Quiet On The Western Front [End]

So we have finished watching All Quiet On The Western Front and I haven't posted for a while now. Where to begin on the things we've seen over the past few days?

The scene with the women really showed the effects of how terrible the war was because even though the women had no idea what these men were saying and were ignoring them, once they saw that the men had food, they immediately flocked to them. They were selling themselves just for some bread. That is just not cool.
I think the director made a good choice in using German soldiers instead of American soldiers because this was being shown to an American audience who had prejudices about Germans. Watching this film would have made them see that everyone in war is practically the same. There are just men who are told to fight, but do not want to die. It is similar to the scene where Paul stabbed another soldier. I forgot what country he was from, but Paul realizes that they are both men with family at home and both are human beings not that different from each other.
When Paul returns to the teacher's classroom, he has changed so much from when he had left the teacher's classroom. When he left, he did not know the truth of war, only that it was supposedly a great thing to die for his country. But when he returns, he has seen the horrors of war and that it is not a great thing to die for the fatherland. He realizes that because the teacher has never been in war, it is easy for him to advertise for young soldiers to enlist.
During the ending scenes of the film, Kat is killed. Kat was the only person left that Paul could relate to. I think it's terrible that Paul can't even talk to or connect with his own family because he has been through war. He's very disconnected from society and can't live that kind of life anymore, even choosing to go back earlier. Many of his other friends were killed, and he only has Kat left. Kat says something about how the war won't end till they get him, which of course, is a jinx. He's probably gonna die...really soon. And that's what happens!
The ending scene of the film is with Paul being killed with a sniper while reaching for the butterfly. The butterfly seems to symbolize freedom and change, some things that Paul will never obtain. The scene where the boys are looking back at their old life is replayed, bringing the film to a full circle.
There are many examples of dehumanization in this film. The first example is of Kat telling a soldier that even though his friend had died, a body is just a body. Then the scene where Kat himself dies. Kat is dead and Paul is clearly shocked, but the other people in the tent continue playing cards and casually talk about his information. So many soldiers have died in wars and they are just numbers, statistics for history.
The doors and windows that Mr. Bennett keeps talking about are actually very important because they give points of view and sometimes foreshadow. For example, the closing of a door usually means closing an opportunity. Closing the door on Paul seemed to show that he was going to die, but in the next scene, there is an open window with light shining through. This could mean that he was given another opportunity to live. Looking through a window into a scene is much like being on the outside looking in and never being able to do anything about it. You are just a viewer.

So I can't believe we have finished our first movie! Yay! It still isn't my favorite film, but it is definitely a good war film.