All Quiet on the Western Front (2022 film)

All Quiet on the Western Front (2022 film)
File:All quiet on the western front (2022 film).jpg Official release poster
Directed by	Edward Berger
Produced by	Malte Grunert Daniel Dreifuss Edward Berger Daniel Brühl Lesley Paterson Ian Stokell Thorsten Schumacher
Screenplay by	Edward Berger Ian Stokell Lesley Paterson
Based on	All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque
Starring	Felix Kammerer Albrecht Schuch Daniel Brühl
Music by	Volker Bertelmann
Cinematography	James Friend
Edited by	Sven Budelmann
Production company	Amusement Park
Distributed by	Netflix
Release dates	September 12, 2022 (2022-09-12) (TIFF) October 28, 2022 (2022-10-28) (Netflix)
Running time	147 minutes
Country	Germany United States
Language	German French

All Quiet on the Western Front (German: Im Westen nichts Neues) is a 2022 epic anti-war film based on the 1929 novel of the same name by Erich Maria Remarque. Directed by Edward Berger, it stars Felix Kammerer, Albrecht Schuch, Daniel Brühl, Sebastian Hülk, Aaron Hilmer, Edin Hasanovic and Devid Striesow. Set in the closing days of World War I, it follows the life of an idealistic young German soldier named Paul Bäumer. After enlisting in the German Army with his friends, Bäumer finds himself exposed to the realities of war, shattering his early hopes of becoming a hero as he does his best to survive. The film adds a parallel storyline not found in the book, which follows the armistice negotiations to end the war.

All Quiet on the Western Front premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 12, 2022, and was released to streaming on Netflix on October 28, 2022. In August 2022, the film was announced as Germany's submission for the Academy Award for Best International Feature Film at the 95th Academy Awards, and made the December shortlist.

The film received positive reviews from critics for faithfulness to the source material's anti-war message. It was also named one of the top five international films of 2022 by the National Board of Review.

Plot

In 1917, three years into the First World War, 17-year-old Paul Bäumer enlists in the Imperial German Army alongside his school friends, Albert Kropp, Franz Müller, and Ludwig Behm. They listen to a patriotic speech by a school official and unknowingly receive uniforms from soldiers killed in a previous battle. After they are deployed in Northern France near La Malmaison, they are befriended by Stanislaus "Kat" Katczinsky, an older soldier. Their romantic view of the war is shattered by the realities of trench warfare on the Western Front, and Ludwig is killed by artillery on the first night.

On November 7, 1918, German official Matthias Erzberger, weary of mounting losses, meets with German High Command to persuade them to begin armistice talks with the Allied powers. Meanwhile, Paul and Kat steal a goose from a farm to share with Albert, Franz, and another veteran, Tjaden Stackfleet, with whom they have grown close behind the front in Champagne. Kat, who is illiterate, gets Paul to read him a letter from his wife and worries that he cannot reintegrate into peacetime society. Franz spends the night with a French woman and brings back her scarf as a souvenir.

On the morning of November 9, General Friedrichs drives Erzberger and the German delegation to a train bound for the Forest of Compiègne to negotiate a ceasefire. Paul and his friends go on a mission to find 60 missing recruits sent to reinforce their unit and discover that they were killed by gas after taking off their masks too soon. Friedrichs, who opposes the talks, orders an attack before French reinforcements arrive. That night, Erzberger's delegation reaches the Forest of Compiègne, and Paul's regiment is sent to the front to prepare to attack the French lines.

On the morning of November 10, Ferdinand Foch, the Supreme Allied Commander, gives 72 hours for the Germans to accept the Allied terms, with no room for negotiation. Meanwhile, the German attack takes the French front line after hand-to-hand fighting but is routed by a combined arms counterattack with Saint-Chamond tanks, aeroplanes, and flamethrowers. Franz is separated from the group, and Albert is killed trying to surrender. Trapped in a crater in no man's land with a French soldier, Paul stabs him and watches him die slowly, becoming remorseful and asking forgiveness to his dead body. Erzberger learns of Kaiser Wilhelm II's abdication and receives instructions in the evening from field marshal Paul von Hindenburg to accept the Allied terms. Paul returns to his unit and sees them celebrating the imminent end of the war. He finds a wounded Tjaden, who gives him Franz's scarf. Paul and Kat bring him food but Tjaden, distraught at being crippled, fatally stabs himself in the throat using a fork Paul and Kat brought with the food.

Around 5:00 AM on November 11, Erzberger's delegation signs the armistice set to take effect at 11 AM. After learning of the ceasefire, Paul and Kat steal from the farm one last time, but Kat is shot by the farmer's young son and dies as Paul carries him to the hospital. Friedrichs wants to end the war with a German victory and orders an attack to start at 10:45. A despondent, battle-hardened Paul kills many French soldiers before being speared through the chest by a bayonet seconds before 11:00 when the fighting stops, and the front falls silent. A short time later, a newly arrived German recruit that Paul had saved in the combat finds Paul's mud-caked body and picks up Franz's scarf.

Cast

• Felix Kammerer as Paul Bäumer
• Albrecht Schuch as Stanislaus "Kat" Katczinsky
• Aaron Hilmer as Albert Kropp
• Moritz Klaus as Franz Müller
• Adrian Grünewald as Ludwig Behm
• Edin Hasanovic as Tjaden Stackfleet
• Daniel Brühl as Matthias Erzberger
• Thibault de Montalembert as General Ferdinand Foch
• Devid Striesow as General Friedrichs
• Andreas Döhler as Lieutenant Hoppe
• Sebastian Hülk as Major Von Brixdorf

Production

The film was announced in February 2020 with Edward Berger directing and Daniel Brühl as part of the ensemble cast. Principal photography began in March 2021 in Prague, Czech Republic.

Release

All Quiet on the Western Front premiered at the 47th Toronto International Film Festival on September 12, 2022. It played exclusively at the Paris Theater in New York on October 7 before expanding to other theatres from October 14.

It launched on Netflix worldwide on October 28.

Reception

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 91% of 128 reviews are positive, with an average rating of 8.4/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "Both timely and timeless, All Quiet on the Western Front retains the power of its classic source material by focusing on the futility of war." Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 76 out of 100, based on 35 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".

Reubyn Coutinho, on Netflix Junkie, wrote, "It does not pull its punches with the screenplay having the potential to make you squirm...The film touches upon the loneliness, the catalyst of desperation, the fear of civilians in battle, and the chaos." Ben Kenigsberg, writing for The New York Times, found the film to be less impressive than the 1930 version, but appreciated the pounding soundtrack. He also praised the addition of a parallel plot tracking the armistice, even if it diverged from the first person narrative of the novel. He found the tweaked fate of the characters to be narratively powerful.

However, Jamelle Bouie in the New York Times said that the 2022 version missed the essence of the novel, which is not just antiwar, but also the alienation and terrible toll even on those who come home. "Remarque is not as interested in the war as geopolitics as he is in the war as human absurdity made manifest." In a sequence of the 1930 film, omitted from the 2022 film, Paul comes home on leave and can't relate to former teachers and other adults. "You still think it's beautiful and sweet to die for your country, don't you?" says Paul. "The first bombardment taught us better." According to Bouie, "The inclusion of this political subplot and the exclusion of Paul's return home transforms 'All Quiet on the Western Front' from a psychological examination of the soldier's experience and a condemnation of war into a much simpler story of virtuous soldiers and cynical leaders who betrayed them."

Accolades

Award	Date of ceremony	Category	Recipient(s)	Result	Ref.
National Board of Review	8 December 2022	Top Five Foreign Language Films	All Quiet on the Western Front	Won
		Best Adapted Screenplay	Ian Stokell, Edward Berger and Lesley Paterson	Won
European Film Awards	10 December 2022	Best Makeup and Hairstyling	Heike Merker	Won
		Best Visual Effects	Frank Petzold, Viktor Müller and Markus Frank	Won
Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association	12 December 2022	Best International/Foreign Language Film	All Quiet on the Western Front	Nominated
St. Louis Gateway Film Critics Association	18 December 2022	Best International Film		Nominated
Dallas–Fort Worth Film Critics Association	19 December 2022	Best Foreign Language Film		4th place
Alliance of Women Film Journalists	5 January 2023	Best Screenplay, Adapted	Edward Berger, Lesley Paterson, Ian Stokell	Nominated
		Best Non-English Language Film	All Quiet on the Western Front	Nominated
San Diego Film Critics Society	6 January 2023	Best Director	Edward Berger	Nominated
		Best Adapted Screenplay	Edward Berger, Lesley Paterson and Ian Stokell	Won
		Best International Film	All Quiet on the Western Front	Won
San Francisco Bay Area Film Critics Circle	9 January 2023	Best International Feature Film		Nominated
Golden Globe Awards	10 January 2023	Best Motion Picture – Foreign Language		Nominated
Georgia Film Critics Association	13 January 2023	Best International Film		Pending
Critics' Choice Movie Awards	15 January 2023	Best Foreign Language Film		Pending
Seattle Film Critics Society	17 January 2023	Best Film Not in the English Language		Pending
Houston Film Critics Society	18 February 2023	Best Foreign Language Feature		Pending
Art Directors Guild Awards	18 February 2023	Excellence in Production Design for a Period Film	Christian M. Goldbeck	Pending
Hollywood Critics Association Awards	24 February 2023	Best International Film	All Quiet on the Western Front	Pending
Golden Reel Awards	26 February 2023	Outstanding Achievement in Sound Editing – Foreign Language Feature	Frank Kruse, Markus Stemler, Alexander Buck, Benjamin Hörbe, Alexander Buck, Thomas Kalbér, Moritz Hoffmeister, Kuen Il Song, Carsten Richter, Daniel Weis	Pending
Cinema Audio Society Awards	4 March 2023	Outstanding Achievement in Sound Mixing for a Motion Picture – Live Action	Viktor Prášil, Lars Ginzel, Stefan Korte, Daniel Kresco, Jan Meyerdierks, Hanse Warns	Pending

See also

• List of submissions to the 95th Academy Awards for Best International Feature Film
• List of German submissions for the Academy Award for Best International Feature Film

External links

• All Quiet on the Western Front at IMDb
• All Quiet on the Western Front on Netflix
• All Quiet on the Western Front at AllMovie
• Official screenplay