Erich Maria Remarque’s 1929 seminal anti-war novel All Quiet on the Western Front explores the themes of misguided patriotism and the horrible randomness of war in graphic detail, cementing its place as one of the first and greatest critiques of war ever put to page. The novel was widely published and quickly adapted to film by Lewis Milestone in 1930 to critical acclaim. This rendition of the novel sought to highlight the horrors of war while largely remaining true to the original text, albeit with slight alterations to fit the medium. Over 90 years later, another rendition of All Quiet on the Western Front was released as a Netflix exclusive. This 2022 film adaptation directed by Edward Berger will be the focus of this review, and specifically,
…show more content…
The climax of the film coincides well with the novel, albeit taking different routes to bring Paul to that shell crater with the French soldier. In what is a general contrasting trend from the book to the movie, the novel has Paul crawling in No Man’s Land before a seemingly random artillery barrage, whereas the movie sees him find himself stuck after a failed set-piece battle complete with tanks and flamethrowers. However he gets there, Paul’s intimate killing of the French soldier and his remorseful breakdown is just as impactful to watch as it was to read, and the actor carries the emotion of Paul in a way that can only be seen to be truly appreciated. Other changes, such as the manner of Kat’s death, do not detract from the impact they have on Paul, turning the once bright young man into an indifferent and uncaring dog of …show more content…
While this is not necessarily a bad thing, and I believe the film does a good job of achieving its goals, this does take away from some of the main points of the novel. All Quiet on the Western Front is as much about war as it is a treatise on pre-war German society and nationalism, and the erosion of these themes in the movie in favor of appealing to a more modern audience does a disservice to the source material. This movie does, however, shine in its ability to show the sheer terror of modern warfare in a way that both the novel and 1930 film cannot, with the full array of modern special effects and cinematography showing war as a terrible spectacle of violence and suffering, dehumanizing the individual soldiers in battle in a way that highlights the futility of it
The climax of the film coincides well with the novel, albeit taking different routes to bring Paul to that shell crater with the French soldier. In what is a general contrasting trend from the book to the movie, the novel has Paul crawling in No Man’s Land before a seemingly random artillery barrage, whereas the movie sees him find himself stuck after a failed set-piece battle complete with tanks and flamethrowers. However he gets there, Paul’s intimate killing of the French soldier and his remorseful breakdown is just as impactful to watch as it was to read, and the actor carries the emotion of Paul in a way that can only be seen to be truly appreciated. Other changes, such as the manner of Kat’s death, do not detract from the impact they have on Paul, turning the once bright young man into an indifferent and uncaring dog of …show more content…
While this is not necessarily a bad thing, and I believe the film does a good job of achieving its goals, this does take away from some of the main points of the novel. All Quiet on the Western Front is as much about war as it is a treatise on pre-war German society and nationalism, and the erosion of these themes in the movie in favor of appealing to a more modern audience does a disservice to the source material. This movie does, however, shine in its ability to show the sheer terror of modern warfare in a way that both the novel and 1930 film cannot, with the full array of modern special effects and cinematography showing war as a terrible spectacle of violence and suffering, dehumanizing the individual soldiers in battle in a way that highlights the futility of it