All Quiet on the Western Front (2022): parents' guide
Best for ages 16 and up. Rated R for strong bloody war violence and grisly images.
An unflinching anti-war epic about a German teenager who enlists in World War I with his friends and is sent to the trenches, suited to older teens studying the war. The violence is relentless and graphic: soldiers are shot, stabbed, burned by flamethrowers, crushed by tanks and gassed, and a long scene lingers on a man dying slowly after a knife fight. A wounded soldier takes his own life. Language includes a couple of f-words and about ten s-words, and there's crude talk but no nudity. The strong bloody violence is why we suggest 16.
What's in it
Violence
StrongBattles show soldiers shot, stabbed with bayonets and knives, struck with axes, crushed by tanks, burned by flamethrowers and gassed. Close-ups show mangled bodies and a corpse hanging in a tree, a stabbed man dies slowly, and a wounded soldier fatally stabs his own neck.
Language
ModeratePlugged In counted two f-words and about ten s-words in the subtitles, plus ass, bastard, damn, hell and bloody, and God's name misused about five times. The English dub and subtitles differ somewhat.
Sex and nudity
MildNo sex or nudity. Soldiers make crude remarks about women, one brags about meeting young women and describes a woman's breasts, and another tears a woman's picture off a poster and keeps it like a sweetheart. A soldier kisses his wife.
Drinking, drugs and smoking
ModerateSoldiers smoke cigarettes and some get drunk during a celebration. Officers and officials drink wine and liquor in comfort while men die at the front.
Scary or intense scenes
StrongSustained terror in the trenches, with gas attacks, tanks rolling over men and flamethrowers. Young characters die one after another, and grisly images of wounded and dead soldiers recur throughout the film's two and a half hours.
Sensitive topics
- Suicide
Worth talking about
The film cuts between generals dining comfortably and teenagers dying in the mud. What is it saying about who decides on wars and who pays for them?
On our lists
Similar picks around 16+
Checked October 13th, 2026 against Common Sense Media, Plugged In, bbfc.co.uk. The age is our judgment, not an official rating, and every family draws its lines differently: read the notes, not just the number. Spotted something we missed? Tell us. How we rate.