European Nationalism

Paper Summary:

This paper compares and contrasts the novel "All Quiet on the Western Front" and the film "The Battle of Algiers". . It explains that the film paints a portrait of a society gone awry and that the novel paints a portrait of an individual psychology that is used to show the suffering of all ordinary people caught up in the web of war and the nationalism of the European powers during World War I. The author offers examples from both the novel and the film to qualify points made.

From the Paper:

"One of the reasons for the relatively sympathetic portrayal of the soldiers in the service of imperialism in Remarque's novel is the young men's relative youth and low status in the army. The novel is told from the perspective of a nineteen-year-old student who was convinced to enlist with the German army when his schoolmaster Kantorek told him fine things about the glory of battle. However, after seeing the horrors of war, this young man can only think about seeing his ailing mother at home. In "The Battle of Algiers," although ordinary civilians are a presence in the background as victims of terrorist attacks, the decision makers at the heads of both sides dominate the film, thus forcing the viewer to chose sides as to who is correct, politically, in the war."

More papers on European Nationalism:

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• Essay # 66650 : "The History of Modern Nationalism"

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