For this movie, my recommendation is to read the book. I have not, and do not discount the power which may have been conveyed by the original author who lived the experiences.<br /><br />But all credibility which this movie may have had, washed away for me because there was no dirt, no mud, no decay, no rats, no lice, no corpse stink, no depiction of the truly terrible conditions in which these people fought and slogged and died.<br /><br />All of the soldiers' kit was unblemished, unstained, unmuddied, looking like the producer did not want to risk the expense of getting it cleaned upon its return to the props department. The trenches looked like they had been built that afternoon.<br /><br />You want to tell an effective story with pictures, you have to make the pictures right, or the story doesn't get told.<br /><br />Go watch "All Quiet On The Western Front" for the quintessential depiction of World War I.