When one watches All quiet on the Western front, he/she will not just watch an action or even a war movie, but a protest against war in general.

The plot roughly describes how a group of German students who, after seeing a military parade and being given a patriotic speech by their teacher, decide to join the army and save the fatherland in world war 1. They are being followed through basic training until they arrive at the front, where quickly their high hopes are being shattered by their experiences and the tales of the older and more experienced soldiers.
Throughout the film most of the young recruits turn into grizzled veterans, and die one by one. When one of the still living men returns home for a week, he finds the people in his town to be unaware of the true feelings and actions of war, and he is asked over and over again to tell people about the 'glory of war'. He quickly returns to the front, where he finds out that only a few survivors of the original group are left. When he goes out to find a friend of his who is looking for food, he finds him, but on their way back the friend is first wounded and then killed by enemy fire.
The young man, who lost all his friends, ends up seeing a butterfly in a trench, reaching out to grab him, and getting shot at the last second by a sniper. The film ends with a still of a cemetary.

Every single line in this movie ends up as part of the true moral, which is, however interesting war looks for naieve minds, it really is a horrible thing, which destroys everyone that is enveloped in it, even if they physically survive (for a while). This film also would work for any other war, be it the first or second world war, Korea, Vietnam or even the Gulf Wars; it shows what war does to people.
Cinematically, the movie is a true classic, which is filmed brilliantly and directed just as great; from the small scenes such as discussions in a trench, to great battle-scenes.

I can recommend this to anyone who can stand a bit of criticism and likes films with morals, do not let the fact that this is an almost 80 year old film discourage you, for it still is truly great.