All Quiet on the Western Front

EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE ALL AT ONCE was the big winner at the most recent Academy Awards, taking home an impressive seven statues, including awards for Best Actress, Best Supporting Actor, Best Picture, Best Original Screenplay and Best Director.  

And, while the surreal adventure deserved every award it received, there was another film that had great showing in its own right. The savage adaptation of the classic novel ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT ended up taking home the prize for Best Score, Best Cinematography, Best Production Design and Best International Feature.  

Standing as a crowning achievement for its distributor Netflix, ALL QUIET may very well be the most brutal film I have ever seen. I’m sure there will be others who could toss out innumerable examples to prove me wrong, most of which I have probably seen and no doubt have their fair share of stomach-churning moments. When you take in the entire viewing experience, however, I can’t recall ever feeling quite like I did by the time ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT reached its devastating conclusion. 

The film, directed by Edward Berger opens with an immersive and intense battle sequence on the front lines. We follow a young soldier in World War I as he makes his way through the blood soaked trenches and mud, with bullets flying and carnage unfolding all around him. He will, no doubt, be our protagonist for the rest of our journey. That’s how movies like this work. Only, he doesn’t make it through at all. He is another causality amongst millions, and his uniform is the only thing that survives. It will soon be given to the naïve Paul Baumer (Felix Kammerer) who faked his mother’s signature on his intake form in order to enlist. He, along with his eager friends, can’t wait to help win the war.  

The number of war movies produced since the dawn of cinema is staggering and there is no shortage of tales to tell. As time goes on, it becomes increasingly difficult to provide audiences with something they have never seen before. Most recently, Sam Mendes did so with 1917, an intense, technical marvel that was presented as if it were one continuous shot. With ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT, Berger adapted Erich Maria Remarque’s classic novel into a visually stunning exercise in filmmaking, showcasing the point of view of German soldiers. At the forefront of the battalion is Paul played with a haunting realism by newcomer Kammerer. In his film debut, he was given the monumental task of capturing the innocence of a young man sold on the dream of saving his country, only to slowly dissolve into a shattered, numb, broken shell of a man; one who has committed countless atrocities with little hope for redemption or inner peace. Kammerer shoulders this burden with the skill of a seasoned veteran, capturing the essence of a man whose entire way of life crumbles with each second spent in his crumbling boots.

Violence will always be an essential component to any war story, but ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT is shocking and grotesque in ways that have rarely been seen. Much was made about Spielberg’s hyper-realistic take on the D-Day invasion in SAVING PRIVATE RYAN, but the unflinching authenticity of the sequences that unfold through ALL QUIET is utterly jarring. Whether it be on the open battlefield or down in the muck of the trenches, guns, knives, flames, and tanks bring about savage and sudden ends to some, and torturous, agony-filled suffering to others. Rarely have the horrors of war been so visceral, and when paired with the jarring, ingenious, Academy Award winning score by Volker Betelmann it is an assault on the senses that transports the viewer from their couch to the frontlines before you even realize what is happening. 

ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT

GRADE: A   

RATED: R
RUN TIME: 2h 28min
GENRE: Action, Drama, War
STARRING:  Felix Kammerer, Albrecht Schuch, Aaron Hilmer
DIRECTORs: Edward Berger
WRITERS: Edward Berger, Lesley Paterson, Ian Stokell

(Now Streaming on Netflix)

Brian Miller