One of the most famous Anti-War novels ever that got its writer hunted down by Nazi Germany [...] is being remade into a movie for the third time -- Declan McMahon, 10th Grade
⚠️CONTENT AND SPOILER WARNING⚠️: SPOILERS FOR "ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT," AS WELL AS DESCRIPTIONS OF GRUESOME IMAGERY.
A novel and movie that got its writer hunted down by Nazi Germany, and all its copies burned in the ’40s is being remade into a movie for the third time, this time by Germans. “All Quiet on the Western Front” was one of the most impactful books of its time, altering its audience’s perception of war and creating its own literary genre, and it is back on Netflix.
A novel and movie that got its writer hunted down by Nazi Germany, and all its copies burned in the ’40s is being remade into a movie for the third time, this time by Germans. “All Quiet on the Western Front” was one of the most impactful books of its time, altering its audience’s perception of war and creating its own literary genre, and it is back on Netflix.
This third film adaptation is directed by Edward Berger and stars Daniel Brühl, Albrecht Schuch, Sebastian Hülk, Felix Kammerer, Aaron Hilmer, Edin Hasanovic, and Devid Striesow. The trailer opens with one of the most famous and profound quotes from the book: “This book is to be neither an accusation nor a confession, and least of all an adventure, for death is not an adventure to those who stand face to face with it. It will try simply to tell of a generation of men who, even though they may have escaped its shells, were destroyed by the war.”
| | Immediately, this line leads into one of the most important facets of the book and movie: post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Known as ‘shell-shock’ in the 1930s, PTSD was just one of the many ways that war followed young men back home to not only Germany, but England, France, and all other countries involved in World War One. |
The movie begins with Paul—our protagonist—as a schoolboy, in a classroom, as Professor Kantorek gives an impassioned speech about protecting the Fatherland by enlisting. Parades of soldiers pass by the window being sent off and welcomed home alike by women and children in droves. Seeing this, the boys decide to enlist and become heroes like their neighbors.
Upon their first drill, their heroic ideals are shattered under the oppressive command of Corporal Himmelstoss, their former mailman. After a brief boot camp, the boys are sent as a unit to join what remains of the 2nd company as their replacements.
When they arrive at the front, two of the most emotionally taut and poignant moments in the movie happen in quick succession. First, all of the boys get off the bus at the front to lay barbed wire, and there's a shot where they all look back which symbolizes their last glimpse of home. Secondly, a boy tries to run and gets blinded by artillery fire and falls over screaming “I’m blind, I’m blind!” before falling to the ground and writhing. Paul, despite everyone's protesting screams, scrambles out of the trench to drag his friend's body back behind German lines. The boy then dies, blind and afraid, mere hours after arriving at the frontline of a war his teacher and friends convinced him to join.
Upon their first drill, their heroic ideals are shattered under the oppressive command of Corporal Himmelstoss, their former mailman. After a brief boot camp, the boys are sent as a unit to join what remains of the 2nd company as their replacements.
When they arrive at the front, two of the most emotionally taut and poignant moments in the movie happen in quick succession. First, all of the boys get off the bus at the front to lay barbed wire, and there's a shot where they all look back which symbolizes their last glimpse of home. Secondly, a boy tries to run and gets blinded by artillery fire and falls over screaming “I’m blind, I’m blind!” before falling to the ground and writhing. Paul, despite everyone's protesting screams, scrambles out of the trench to drag his friend's body back behind German lines. The boy then dies, blind and afraid, mere hours after arriving at the frontline of a war his teacher and friends convinced him to join.
At this point, American and German audiences alike are shocked awake to the true reality of war – not just the fact that people die, as people would’ve been at least aware of that, but its brutality, totality, and the volatility of life on the front lines. It’s hard as a viewer to grasp the fact that someone who you’ve grown up with could have their life torn away from them in an instant. Screenwriter and filmmaker Amelia Whitcomb puts it best: “[‘All Quiet on the Western Front’] does a great job, I think, of capturing the many dimensions of war, and all of the ways it wears a person down. Sure, there are the battle scenes that we're all familiar with from war films, but it also shows the monotony of war, the deprivation of war, and particularly, just how jarring the juggling of all of these different types of situations, which change on a hair trigger, can be on the psyche and nervous system.”
Eventually, Paul and his best friend Albert are some of the only original students left in the 2nd Company. They both get injured and sent to the hospital, where Albert’s leg is amputated and Paul gets put on leave. When asked to speak to his current crop of students and advocate for them to join, he tells them exactly what he knows. “It’s not beautiful [to die for your country]. It’s dirty and it’s painful. When it comes to dying for your country, it’s better not to die at all,” he says.
The schoolboys, in response, call him a coward, their heads full of fantastical images of glorious combative martyrdom. Paul can only shake his head as he sees in their eyes what was in his mind a year or two ago.
The book was written by young novelist Erich Maria Remarque as an autobiographical work of self-insert fiction, with himself as Paul, in order to tell his story and get off his chest the horrors he saw first hand during World War 1. The director of the movie, Lewis Milestone, was so moved that he simply had to make it a movie.
The directors of the new movie say that one of the reasons they started making it was not only to tell a German story from a German perspective, but also because of Brexit, the raise of right-wing populism, alt-nationalism, and fascism in America.
The cinematography was poignant and beautiful, the added storylines filled me with joy and rage, and the movie is an overall masterpiece.
The schoolboys, in response, call him a coward, their heads full of fantastical images of glorious combative martyrdom. Paul can only shake his head as he sees in their eyes what was in his mind a year or two ago.
The book was written by young novelist Erich Maria Remarque as an autobiographical work of self-insert fiction, with himself as Paul, in order to tell his story and get off his chest the horrors he saw first hand during World War 1. The director of the movie, Lewis Milestone, was so moved that he simply had to make it a movie.
The directors of the new movie say that one of the reasons they started making it was not only to tell a German story from a German perspective, but also because of Brexit, the raise of right-wing populism, alt-nationalism, and fascism in America.
The cinematography was poignant and beautiful, the added storylines filled me with joy and rage, and the movie is an overall masterpiece.
Clearly cinema has evolved since 1930, and this movie really shows it. Whereas the original is a linear and chronological story following one character, this movie has two separate storylines following Paul, but also the German general staff trying to negotiate an armistice with the French to whom they are losing.
The remake also has some important differences: Most everyone except Tjaden, Paul, and Katzinscky (Kat) have different names. The movie is much gorier, and also much sadder. Whereas in the original movie, Paul dies after being killed by a sniper, and Kat dies after being hit in the neck with shrapnel, their deaths in this movie are even more futile and distressing. Kat is shot in the liver by a child after stealing eggs, and—in one of the goriest scenes of the entire movie—Tjaden kills himself with a fork after learning he lost his leg.
Paul’s death, though, is even worse.
After the Germans and French agree to an armistice to end the war, they agree the official ceasefire will take place in 6 hours at 11 am on 11/11, but one of the German generals isn’t happy with this decision. “I am a soldier, and what is a soldier without war,” he says. Thus he decides that in the next 4 hours he will muster the remaining troops and take the French lines before they realize what’s happening. By now Paul is the only living member of the 2nd company. With 20 minutes until the armistice goes into effect, Paul is sent into the field. After fighting the French and again losing, Paul is bayoneted in the back mere seconds before 11:00. Paul’s death beautifully—and sadly—acts to seal the message of both of these movies: war is futile, it is fickle, and it is unnecessary.
Overall, although both movies were truly amazing, and the original “All Quiet on the Western Front” will always be a pillar in cinematic and war movie history, I think the 2022 remake is better. The cinematography is more interesting, the story keeps you engaged better and is less straightforward, and frankly, the performances are better. The 2022 version feels more modern, sort of like “1917,” and I think, if not executed properly, that could’ve been a blunder, but Berger directed this movie amazingly, and everything comes across perfectly.
The remake also has some important differences: Most everyone except Tjaden, Paul, and Katzinscky (Kat) have different names. The movie is much gorier, and also much sadder. Whereas in the original movie, Paul dies after being killed by a sniper, and Kat dies after being hit in the neck with shrapnel, their deaths in this movie are even more futile and distressing. Kat is shot in the liver by a child after stealing eggs, and—in one of the goriest scenes of the entire movie—Tjaden kills himself with a fork after learning he lost his leg.
Paul’s death, though, is even worse.
After the Germans and French agree to an armistice to end the war, they agree the official ceasefire will take place in 6 hours at 11 am on 11/11, but one of the German generals isn’t happy with this decision. “I am a soldier, and what is a soldier without war,” he says. Thus he decides that in the next 4 hours he will muster the remaining troops and take the French lines before they realize what’s happening. By now Paul is the only living member of the 2nd company. With 20 minutes until the armistice goes into effect, Paul is sent into the field. After fighting the French and again losing, Paul is bayoneted in the back mere seconds before 11:00. Paul’s death beautifully—and sadly—acts to seal the message of both of these movies: war is futile, it is fickle, and it is unnecessary.
Overall, although both movies were truly amazing, and the original “All Quiet on the Western Front” will always be a pillar in cinematic and war movie history, I think the 2022 remake is better. The cinematography is more interesting, the story keeps you engaged better and is less straightforward, and frankly, the performances are better. The 2022 version feels more modern, sort of like “1917,” and I think, if not executed properly, that could’ve been a blunder, but Berger directed this movie amazingly, and everything comes across perfectly.
