Anna Daniels
The hottest new trend in movies is World War I, baby! World War II? Get the hell outta here! We’re going back to the days of trench warfare, Mustard Gas, and Archduke Franz Ferdinand. After 1917 nabbed plenty of praise and Oscar nominations, it was only a matter of time before a producer said, “Hey, the kids these days seem to love that World War I. Let’s give it a go.” The result: A new adaptation of All Quiet on the Western Front, based on Erich Maria Remarque’s classic anti-war novel. Edward Berger is set to direct, while Daniel Brühl will star.
Variety has the news about a new All Quiet on the Western Front movie. Edward Berger will direct Daniel Brühl and an ensemble cast for the film. Written by Erich Maria Remarque, a German veteran of World War I, All Quiet on the Western Front was published in 1929, and has since become hailed as one of the best anti-war novels of all time. Here’s a synopsis:
I am young, I am twenty years old; yet I know nothing of life but despair, death, fear, and fatuous superficiality cast over an abyss of sorrow. . . .
This is the testament of Paul Bäumer, who enlists with his classmates in the German army during World War I. They become soldiers with youthful enthusiasm. But the world of duty, culture, and progress they had been taught breaks in pieces under the first bombardment in the trenches.
Through years of vivid horror, Paul holds fast to a single vow: to fight against the principle of hate that meaninglessly pits young men of the same generation but different uniforms against one another . . . if only he can come out of the war alive.
The novel was previously adapted into a film in 1930, and then again as a TV movie in 1979. With his adaptation, Berger hopes to provide a new perspective. “It is a physical, visceral and very modern film that has never been told from my country’s perspective, it has never been made into a German-language film,” the filmmaker said. “We now have the chance to make an anti-war film that will truly touch our audience.”
Rocket Science and Amusement Park have the rights to the story, and Amusement Park will produce, along with Malte Grunert. “All Quiet on the Western Front to this day is indeed the definitive novel about war and the utter senselessness of it,” said Grunert. “War knows no heroes. One hundred years after its publication ‘All Quiet on the Western Front’ has retained all its impact and power. In the hands of Edward, it will be a very meaningful and contemporary take on the story, a powerful film and an impressive cinematic experience.”
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