New version on the battlefront. Originally written in 1929 by Erich Maria Remarque, No news at the front it had a remembered film version in 1930. It won two statuettes at the Oscars, the most important of the ceremony, Best Film and Best Director (Lewis Milestone). Less Remembered is a telefilm from the year 1979 by the American Delbert Mann.
Almost a century after its completion, the German director Edward Berger (terror) considered it pertinent to command a new adaptation, this time spoken in the original language of its protagonists and with a premiere that coincides with the resurgence of anti-war slogans.
At the heart of the project were some key ideas: there was no heroism or glory to rescue from the war; the horror of the Great War may have been forgotten in light of the worst episodes of World War II, and in his brutal approach to real events, it was crucial that there be an intimate relationship with the main characters, beginning with Paul Bäume (Austrian actor Felix Kammerer), a 17-year-old who enlists in the German army and ends up in the Western front.
“In all of our decisions—camera, music, production design, costumes, props or whatever—it felt important to (reflect) what Paul, or whoever is in the frame, is feeling at the time. In that sense, he would call it perhaps an intimate portrait of these young people,” Berger explained to Deadline.
The sum of these decisions can be seen for a few days on Netflix, where the feature film has become one of the titles with the highest streaming views. A release that has multiplied the praise it had already received at international festivals and in its own country, which chose it as the local candidate to compete for the Oscar for Best International Film (the same category to which the Chilean Blanquita, as well as Argentina, 1985, the Belgian Close and the South Korean Decision to leave).
“All Quiet on the Front Lines is a substantial and earnest piece of work, acted with urgency and focus and featuring battlefield scenes whose digital fabrications deftly fuse with the action. It never fails to do justice to its subject matter, although it is perhaps aware of its own classic status,” The Guardian reviewed, adding that it is “a powerful, eloquent and self-consciously passionate film.”
Calling it “the most visually stunning and spectacular version” of the book, the Chicago Sun-Times reviewed: Like many of the best war films, from Paths of Glory to Platoon, Saving Private Ryan and 1917, this is a difficult and sometimes harrowing viewing experience, but it’s also a technical marvel, a carefully crafted character study. Thoughtful and, yes, a timely reminder that the young people who fight and sacrifice, kill and die in wars are pawns in a larger, more complex and often maddeningly unnecessary chess game.”
Somewhat more moderate, the Indiewire portal maintained that “there is a certain Teutonic seriousness in the making of the film, as well as in the subject matter. As polished but not as flashy as Sam Mendes’ 1917, the film shows a similar level of commitment to historical detail, but presents its elaborately staged battlefield scenes in a relatively simpler spoken style.”
On the subject of war, the site noted that “his futility and absurdity remain constant, even as his visage evolves over time. Sadly, Edward Berger’s beautiful but long-awaited version of the story doesn’t add much to the canon, except for some absolutely gorgeous visuals.”
Los Angeles Times stated that at times its two and a half hours of duration feel like an eternity. For the most part, however, Berger keeps the horror right in the foreground, never more so than when Bäumer, trapped in close quarters with a French soldier, is confronted by the undeniable humanity of his enemy.
On the introduction of the character of Daniel Brühl, a negotiator who travels in parallel to sign an armistice with France that was not in the original story, he pointed out that “The decision to include this voice primarily of pacifism creates a lack of confidence in the point of the film and the audience’s ability to understand it.”
Part of a less enthusiastic review, The New York Times noted that “Berger has more tools at his disposal than Milestone did with the challenges of the early sound age, but those advantages somehow make this upgrade less of a challenge. impressive: the magnification in scale and prowess lends itself to showing off.”
Regardless, he noted that “the movie aims to pummel you with relentless brutality, and it’s hard not to be disturbed by that.”
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Quiet on the Front: the success of Netflix’s visceral anti-war film