All Quiet... a Preview
The new Netflix version of the classic Great War film, All Quiet on the Western Front.
The new Netflix version of All Quiet on the Western Front comes to screens via a limited cinema release on 14th October, and then on Netflix itself at the end of the month.
Based on the book by Erich Maria Remarque, it tells the story of Paul Bäumer and his comrades in the trenches of the Great War. The new film is directed by Edward Berger (Deutschland 83) and features largely unknown actors unless you’re a geek like me who watches French and German TV!
I’ve been lucky to see the film - twice now - and my opinion remains the same: this is an excellent and important film about the Great War. It’s the third film version of Remarque’s book, but the first one in German, and made by a German production team. That in itself is a fascinating angle to consider because the film does not simply remake the 1930 original, it’s a new 21st Century imagining of it, with some new characters and a new storyline for the ending.
The kit, the uniforms, the weapons, the tanks, and for me most especially, the landscapes in the film are all convincing, and this is what gives the film its power as well as the timeless story Remarque portrayed in his work, with a clear anti-war message with feels very prescient in the modern world.
A much fuller Preview of the film is coming this weekend on my Podcast The Old Front Line:
If you want to see it on the big screen they are showing it at the Barbican on Tue 18th. I was gonna go, but sadly am already out, seeing Newton Faulkner though, so not all bad..
I was gonna get tickets for the Barbican here: https://www.barbican.org.uk/whats-on/2022/event/all-quiet-on-the-western-front-screentalk
Enjoy 😊👍
Fantastic review should be in mainstream cinema. As you say important war message which can be taught to the younger generation.
Do you know of any cinema that is showing it in London Paul?