Nearly 100 years ago, All Quiet On The Western Front won the Oscar for Outstanding Production (the equivalent then of Best Picture), as well as Best Director – a searing depiction of the horrors of World War I (as it wasn’t known back then) that arrived just a year on from the 1929 novel it adapted. Now, jumping almost a century ahead, the book has been adapted once more in another evocation of the horrors of a muddy, bloody, desperately sad war. The new version comes from German director Edward Berger – the first German filmmaker to take on the material; there was also a 1979 CBS TV-movie version – heading back to the trenches with young soldier Paul Bäumer (newcomer Felix Kammerer) as the early jollities of soldier life quickly gives way to total devastation. Watch the trailer here:
Berger’s film looks necessarily bleak – an epic, harrowing trudge towards certain doom, and a film that looks to follow Sam Mendes’ 1917 as a reminder of the depths of despair that awaited soldiers on both sides of the First World War. If it’s sure to be a difficult sit, this looks well-shot and visceral, putting human faces to the scope of tragedy that unfolded from the conflict. While the cast will be largely unknown to UK audiences, you’ll spot Daniel Brühl in there as Matthias Erzberger, a real-lie German politician and writer who spoke out again the war. Berger previously directed all episodes of Patrick Melrose, and re-teams with his cinematographer there, James Friend.
All Quiet On The Western Front will premiere at the Toronto Film Festival on 12 September, and will release in select UK cinemas from 14 October, before streaming on Netflix from 28 October.