There is often trepidation when a classic film is remade. Will it measure up to the original? Will it do enough on its own to make it stand out? Is it necessary to have ANOTHER one of these? Sometimes things work out, as it did with Steven Spielberg’s West Side Story just last year. Sometimes, however, you get Gus Van Sant’s 1998 remake of Psycho, and it just keeps the argument against remakes perpetual.
Erich Maria Remarque’s best-selling novel, All Quiet on the Western Front, is a timeless and international antiwar classic. As is the 1930 Best Picture-winning film adapted from his story. In the first German film adaptation, Edward Berger’s version of the time-honored tale lives up to its predecessors in a big, big way.
Young Paul Bäumer (Felix Kammerer) is a 17-year-old German student whose ideas of war have been romanticized by the fervor of teachers and persons of influence around him. They sing of the glory and honor of battle and the spoils laid upon its victors in a way that makes the thought of missing out on the “Great War” unthinkable. In the final years of World War I, Paul and his small group of friends arrive at the borders of France and Belgium on the west end of the German front. It doesn’t take long for the horrors of war to be unmasked. All Quiet on the Western Front pulls back the curtain to expose the carnage as it was truly experienced. The meaningless and barbaric waste of human lives becomes Paul’s nightmarish hell. He becomes disillusioned by the expendability of the young soldiers around him and begins to lose friends to catastrophic new technology. Machine guns, tanks, flame throwers, shell bombardments, and poisonous gases were first introduced in World War I, while gruesome methods of killing – bayonets and hand-to-hand combat – were still prevalent in trench warfare. The mangled bodies of astute young men whose country led them to early, unmarked, and shallow graves litter the battlefield.
All Quiet on the Western Front presents a scathing depiction of the mental terror of war unlike any film or novel that came before it. The emotional disconnection that consumes the soldiers has an extremely destructive impact on Paul and his comrades. Along with the intense psychological anguish, the story depicts the physical brutality brought on by their impoverished surroundings at camp. Infested with disease-carrying vermin, minimal provisions, and the constant threat of death, no soldier remained unscathed. Whether physically or psychologically debilitated, the aftermath of the war left an entire generation of men destroyed.
What I have always loved most about All Quiet on the Western Front – the 1930 version is the oldest entry in my personal Top 100 Films of All Time list – is the fact that the story is told from the American enemy’s point of view. We live vicariously in this barbarous war through the eyes of our adversary, who doesn’t seem to be that much different than us. Paul yearns to be with friends, chase girls, and dreams of a future where he returns a hero. He faces the same ghastly and traumatic experiences that any of us would and allows us to live in his shoes. We root for him to steal the goose from the farm so that he and his platoon can eat. We feel empathy for him as his friends are slain one by one. We hope for his survival. This component of the film allows a thin layer of humanity to exist and makes the savage atrocities of combat all the more bloodcurdling.
The landscapes present a somber critique of war that are captured perfectly by cinematographer James Friend. From the vast scope of no man’s land to tight, intimate closeups of the soldiers sent to die, Friend’s aesthetically striking imagery is among the best we will see this year. Kammerer’s debut performance is extraordinary, as he must sell the audience on the emotional toll the war takes from his benevolent humanity. Berger’s vision and decision-making is astounding. His rendition of the story includes real-life figures and events, like Matthias Erzeberger’s (Daniel Brühl) work to help Germany come to a peace-establishing agreement with France, an armistice that would be refuted by a warmongering general and later cost Erzeberger his life. The fierce battle sequences are a grim and powerful experience, expertly crafted to depict the vivid chaos of the front line.
All Quiet on the Western Front is a jaw-dropping film and a remarkable piece of work. It is not only one of the best films of the year but should also be remembered as one of the greatest war films of all time. Erich Maria Remarque would undoubtedly admire Berger’s graphic take on his lesson in history, hoping against all hopes that one day we will no longer be destined to repeat it.
All Quiet on the Western Front is Germany’s official entry for Best International Film. It is playing in theaters in a limited release and will be available on Netflix on October 28.
The international Oscar will go to German this year. Argentina will be among the nominees, no doubt about it. Both pictures are very good in my opinion and deserve the nomination both but the award will be for All quiet on the westernfront and with potential nominations in adapted screenplay, sound and production design too.
I’m currently predicting this to make the cut in Picture, Director, International, Adapted Screenplay, Sound, Cinematography and Production Design.
I wouldn’t be surprised if it is completely ignored, honestly. No matter how great it is. It’s not an anti-war film, that 2022 is asking for, it’s Top Gun: Maverick (pro-war) the one that it is a hit and a frontrunner for a best Picture nomination…
Hel, we don’t have to see a movie, all we have to do is turn on CNN and watch the carnage in Ukraine. I don’t know how those people keep their sanity. Bombs everywhere, children, women, being killed by bombs. Their buildings blown up. I see wars in real-time on CNN and other EU stations.
So Netflix brings Germany’s All Quiet on the Western Front while Amazon brings Argentina’s Argentina, 1985.
The 2 streaming giants have 2 big international film contenders. Can’t wait.
Argentina, 1985 isn’t a big contender, in my opinion. It’s marginally close to be even dull, far away from the gripping and poignant sensations that JFK or Judgement at Nurenberg offered – being a similar proposal. The only absolutely outstanding things in it are the performances by Ricardo Darín (as usual) and the child actor who plays his son, Santiago Armas Estevarena (both Oscar-calibre, if you ask me). It would shock me, if it got even to the shortlist… I don’t think it would be for anything other than to promote awareness about the original events and good will.
I’ll watch anything with Ricardo Darin in it. My favourite was Truman with Javier Camara. Such a beautifully acted film. Darin’s son is a burgeoning talent too. I think he was with his Dad in ‘Heroic Losers’
I love Darín and Cámara, and still, somehow, haven’t seen “Truman” yet. I fly tomorrow, I should download it into my tablet-PC to see it during the flight… With some films, I just avoid them, as I am scared I may not like them, it’s weird, because beforehand, I think I am bound to love them, due to the people involved.
In other words, don’t cry for Argentina, 1985.
Haven’t seen it myself. I came to that suggestions based on 77 from MetaCritic. Still, looking forward to both of them (Alongside Denmark’s Holy Spider among International contenders).
Based on your review, it sounds like this should be considered as a Best Picture contender (which I always had a hunch could happen) as well as a play for best actor. The latter, especially because the field is weak enough that folx are trying to pencil in Will Smith and Tom Cruise…
Are you including them in your picks?
I still feel like we’re going to see a CODA style last minute gatecrashing from somewhere. I’m vascillating between this and Decision to Leave as said crasher.
Decision to Leave isn’t going to happen, but maybe Aftersun?
Asian cinema is on fire the last few years, although you wouldn’t hear about that much in these parts.
well Korean TV is outpacing American TV too
Very much so. Incredibly deep talent pool there.
that’s another reason why EEAAO CAN win Best Picture. Asian flavor in an American film. Minari on steroids, but with actual meat inside, rather than calculated, artificial flavor. (Just count the amount of American flags in the promotion material for both films, and check out who’s not afraid to be considered a “foreign” one)
And given all the Anna May Wong articles in the press (a coincidence?), I think if not EEAAO, then at least Michelle Yeoh is getting into a huge front-runner.
But I think EEAAO might very well be a CODA kind of player. I expect it to be embraced by the SAG, the WGA (if eligible), and the ACE. Everything else is a question mark but I expect it to be far more present in directing than CODA. We’ll see…
I don’t think you can lump all of Asian cinema into one like that. Beyond that, Decision to Leave is not particularly the kind of movie the Academy goes for especially as a best picture winner
All I was getting at was that while it’s obvious that Korean movies and television are in a golden age, Japanese cinema is beginning to rebound as well. Thus my catch all descriptor.
It’s a huge shame that Hong Kong cinema was obliterated by the Chinese government.
Aftersun is a great film, but way too restrained to match-up with the Academy´s preferences. I would be very surprised (yet also very pleased) if it doesn´t get overlooked.
That’s what I have been hearing all along, but something has got to give.
International cinema is in ascendancy because it isn’t about superheroes, IP’s, reboots, remakes, fan service that is focus-grouped into a pulp, or paranoid that some dummy right wing culture warrior might have a sad. Seriously, make a horrific WWI film but make it about Americans, the howls of “woke anti-military” would come raining down from all corners. That’s why a slick low to no stakes bit of pablum like Top Gun gets so fervently adopted in some corners.