It appears that all hope has been lost for the main characters of the film. They have all died one by one in battle and now only one remains... My final guess for the meaning behind the doors and windows is that they show a sort of passage from one life to another a kind of reflection of ones life. For instance, when Paul is being taken to the death room the nurse closes the door on him as if to say it is over for him. Also, when Paul returns to his former school he is shown peering into the class through a window. Ironically, this is the same window at the start of the movie that we watch the German War parade march by. It contrasts Paul's original beliefs about war to the harsh reality.
Another short "gem" scene to me is the one in which Paul takes out an old picture of himself and his friend (Albert?). He covers the face of the two smiling men in the picture as if to show their loss of identity through the war. They are now just two German uniforms. It is one final scene that builds on the theme of "de-huminization".
Actually, it is Albert, the amputee, who covers the picture. Actually, -- and I have the benefit of many viewings of this film -- Albert is looking at the legs of he and Paul. one of his legs is up on a stool, or something, so the picture evokes, visually, the amputation that has just occurred.
ReplyDeleteYour explication of the windows is on target, I'd say. It does bespeak a journey to a new stage of life. Doors and windows are portals into a new space.