Trenches - Tumblr Posts

German Stormtrooper WWI

One thing i loved about this All Quiet On The Western Front adaptation is how they focus on food.

There's a scene from the book that i will never forget about how the rats crawled on their faces while they slept to get to the bread stored under their pillows. That imagery has been with me since i read it back in high school. And i know starvation and food rationing is a common aspect to focus on in war movies, but i really love how this film handled it.

Whenever we see soldiers eating in this film, they are huddled together, eating quickly, messily. They are grateful for the smallest morsel. They steal food. They risk their lives for food.

Whenever we see the wealthy, the politicians, the older men who are not in the trenches eating, there is tons of space between them. They eat elegant dishes. They are in no rush. They sit alone in the fancy dining car of the train with all their courses laid out. They sit the entire length of a great dining table apart while chatting casually about their upbringings. They complain about their perfectly good croissants not being freshly made that day. This meal is not life or death for them. It's not snatching a hurried bite under the worst conditions imaginable, with another blood-stained, mud-covered soldier by their side; it's a leisure activity with no sense of community. No impending doom.

POV: I chatted a bit about ww1 while chatting with my boyfriend, who's literally a great cat-lover...

Posted this after his permission.