The Big Parade Movie Essay

The Big Parade is a silent film which was released in 1925, and was directed by King Vidor. The film discusses the story of an idle boy from a wealthy family who joins the US Army's during World War 1, during this he becomes friends of two men, experiences the horrors of trench warfare, and falls in love with a French girl. The movie begins in 1917 when the US enters World War 1. The main character James (Jim) Apperson gets threatened by his father to be thrown out if he does not join the army even though tells his anxious mother that he has no intention in joining. He spends the day with his friends who in a patriotic party end up getting enlisted. During the training, he makes friends with Slim and Bull who all get shipped out to France at a farm on the village
They fall in love although they speak different languages. One day Jim gets a letter from his fiancé Justyn and Melisande finds out, afterwards Jim is sent back to his unit. They get sent to the front and the unit is sent to attack with machine guns, artillery, and poison gas all around the shots. Jim then shelters in a shell hole with Slim and Bull. They have a spitting contestant to decide who goes out and eliminates a mortar crew, Slim wins but ends up wounded, after hearing Slims pleas Jim goes to rescue him but he is already dead. A German tries to kill him but Jim shoots at him and then gets wounded himself, he is then taken away to the hospital. Here he learns that he has his leg amputated and will need aid to walk. However, he is still worried about Melisande and goes back to the farm to look for her, and once he gets there he finds it damaged and empty (Melisande and her mother have joined a group of refugees). Jim goes back to America and his family finds out about his leg, he then tells his mother about Melisande and she tells him to go find her. When he returns to find her, they both