Sophia Michaels
The iconic anti-war novel, “All Quiet on the Western Front,” was written by Erich Maria Remarque, a German World War I veteran, in a newspaper in 1928, then later a book in 1929. The story follows the journey of German soldiers during the war and the mental and physical toll it takes on them both on and off the battlefield. While the novel was adapted into an Academy Award-winning film by Lewis Milestone in 1930 and celebrated in Hollywood, the book was eventually banned in Nazi Germany. Now, Netflix is bringing the adaptation back to the screen, this time helmed by German director Edward Berger – nearly 100 years after Milestone’s adaptation.
In the trailer, Berger envelopes the audience in the all-encompassing horrors of war, filling the screen with wide shots of stacked coffins next to dead soldiers juxtaposed with clips of young men eagerly marching into battle in crisp, clean uniforms. The scenes echo the opening words by Remarque: “We have so much to say, and we shall never say it.”
The new film tells the story of Paul Bäumer (played by Felix Kammerer), a young German man on the Western Front of World War I. As leaders of his country dictate his fate, Bäumer and his comrades are shown on anything but a hero’s journey. The thrill and hope they felt for the war quickly descends into a bleak reality as they fight to survive in water-logged trenches. Berger also hints at war’s proximity to nature in the trailer, weaving in shots of the men in the countryside dreaming of home and dragging through charred trees.The film also stars Felix Kammerer, Albrecht Schuch, Aaron Hilmer, and Moritz Klaus. “All Quiet on The Western Front” is set to release on Netflix on October 28, 2022.
