Having nerded out on the Great War for several years, I had a sense of the conditions, but seeing it was remarkable. I particularly liked the comments of the veterans about the Bavarians view of the Prussians. I continue to contemplate the fact that the most important conflict of the 20th Century was fought over the most ludicrous of reasons by men who had no real animosity toward their enemy and launched buy bumbling buffoons who could have stopped it with a modicum of common sense. To be fair, virtually everyone thought it would be over by Christmas but still ... I have always gotten the sense that by Christmas 2015 all but a few politicians and generals gladly would have called "mulligan."
One veteran talked about it in the film, but since I first read the story years ago, I still tremble when I think about the soldiers who stepped off the wood planks and literally sunk and drowned in the mud. In the book, one veteran recounts seeing a young soldier stuck get stuck in the mud walking out and him almost completely submerged on his way back to the trench later in the day.