The astonishing thing about this movie is that it is the first German adaptation of the book. It was, after all, a German novel and is a universally recognized classic. Yes, it was banned by the Nazis as unpatriotic, but the German film industry got over that a long time ago. I wonder why it took them so long.
If you are fluent in subtitle, I recommend watching it in the German language original.
What to make of this adaption? If I were teaching, or a student looking for an essay topic, I might start with the timeline. The novel was published in 1929, and the first film adaptation, also a universally recognized classic, was released in 1930 -- 11 and 12 years respectively after the end of the war. These spoke directly to the generation that lived the war. And importantly, they predated WWII, which still throws a big backwards shadow over The Great War.
The 1979 tv movie adaptation is generally well-regarded, though not quite up to the same mark. The undertone, at least to me, was the still unusual (for the post WWII generation) sympathetic treatment of German soldiers; it was at least partially an exercise in lifting the great backwards shadow of later events.
A third adaptation faces the additional burden of justifying itself against two excellent predecessors. (This is an issue for many remakes, especially of classics.) Being the first German treatment is not enough.
So ... this film begins to step outside the narrative of the book. That is perilous territory, especially when dealing with an historical subject. No spoilers, but IMHO, this movie does not wrongfoot itself too badly, but the changes muddy the focus.
The major question that is raised in the film outside of the novel's framing is why Germany continued to fight until November 1918. In the novel and in faithful adaptations of the novel, this is irrelevant to the story of Paul Baumer and his friends. They are caught in hell and the story is of their disillusionment and, eventually, fatalism. Paul and his friends enlist before war weariness had crushed homefront naiveté. They spend 1916-1918 in the trenches, where their eyes are opened to the realities of trench warfare and stalemate. Now a hardened veteran, Paul participates in the German spring offensives in 1918, when Germany still had a last chance to win the war before the Americans arrived in overwhelming force. From this trench-eye perspective, events in Italy and Russia and the French Army mutinies of 1917 scarcely matter. Once the movie introduces the German political and command perspective, however, the larger strategic dimensions matter a great deal, and the movie should have acknowledged them at least in passing.
That said, if you've seen the first two versions of All Quiet on the Western Front, you will want to add this one. And bear with the subtitles and watch it in German. If you are past trick-or-treating, watch it for Halloween. Or wait until Nov. 11 and watch it on Armistice Day. If you are ambitious, start it around 8:30 a.m. so you finish at 11:00. Or if you are really ambitious, synchronize your clock so you do it on French time. My younger daughter was less than enthusiastic about being dragged out of bed in the wee hours to be on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial for the synchronized playing of the bagpipes -- which was done all around the world -- but I think she forgave me when her history teacher went nuts over it.:)
Anyhow, this will be Germany's submission to the Oscars next year and is one you will want to watch.
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Going to watch it tonight.
Perilous territory indeed.
The first words of the trailer for the Blue Max:
“All is not quiet on the western front”
I watched it last night. It really skewers the German high command with their standard of living vs the life of a common foot solder. i thought it was very good. Some movies could attempt to glorify the German position. This movie does not.
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I remembered the 1979 version with Richard Thomas, of Waltons fame, and Ernst Borgagine.
The novel was quite a trend setter as it played a major role of making the Great War synonymous with futility and nihilism. The novel was published in 1929, 11 years after the Armistice.
The novel birthed cultural output like Kubrick’s “Path of Glory”, the musical “Oh, What a Lovely War”, and play and movie “War Horse”.
Says something about the cultural memory, when there is nothing comparable with Workd War 2. The closest comparison would be the United States reflection of Vietnam in “Apocalypse Now” and “The Deer Hunter”.
Good review and suggestions. Thanks for taking the time to write that.
I watched it last night and was absolutely blown away by the realism of the trench warfare scenes. It is actually hard to watch.
Perhaps even harder to watch is the insane German high commander who sends his troops into battle against the French with 15 minutes to go until the 11th hour.
My Opa fought on the German side on the Eastern Front but never spoke of it. He passed in 1969 when I was a freshman in college. They lived about five hours by car from us, so we saw them only a couple times a year for holidays. I would have liked to have gotten to know them better. My Opa did write his memoirs about his time as a Russian POW in a small village and his escape, but nothing about his battles.
That was a very short but very powerful book. I read it for the first time two months ago. The English version for me.
Kubrick and Kirk Douglas made a great film which I have on DVD.
Just a few years back a film was shown only in theaters that was a restoration and colorized Masterpiece using Lip readers to and the Audio.
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Stunningly Real.
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Can’t remember the Name——!
The Lost Battalion is another good WWI movie.
WWI brought Western civilization out of the quiet drawing rooms and into the noisy barrooms of The Roaring 20s.
The novelist of All Quiet, Erich Maria Remarque, followed up with another novel, called “The Road Back”, about the postwar chaos. It depicts the damage of war in very human terms, such as horrific casualties having to beg the government for their pensions. The silent parade of the wounded is both horrific and unforgettable.
A lot of artists and novelists were transformed by the war, leading to radical artistic and cultural advances, along with a desperate search for alternative ways of government and living.
The split between international socialists and national socialists that had happened before the turn of the Century, in Europe crystalized around communism and fascism; in the US, both camps called themselves “progressives”, the internationalists following Woodrow Wilson, and the nationalists following Teddy Roosevelt.
The vast majority of Americans did not embrace either of these extremes, already associating communism with the horrors unfolding in Russia, associating socialism with anarchism (which everyone at the time condemned), and national socialism with Nazis and fascists, who were as disdained then as now by the moderate majority.
There is a good book about Western culture leading up to the Great War and the cultural impact of the war titled “Rites of Spring”. The title refers to the premier of Stravinsky’s modernist piece with the Ballet Russe in Paris around 1905. Perhaps one of the most notorious premieres in music history as supposedly a riot broke out between conservatives and radicals
Germans know better than than anyone that between 1914-1945 they lost forever their best genetic stock. Wise Germans realize that it was their inherent nature and cultural disposition that was at the core of this catastrophe. Therefore it is not surprising that the Germans themselves cannot easily look in the mirror and make a movie such as “All Quiet on the Western Front” or correctly analyze almost any of the events of the 20th century. Simply evokes too much guilt and pain.
Germans know better than than anyone that between 1914-1945 they lost forever their best genetic stock. Wise Germans realize that it was their inherent nature and cultural disposition that was at the core of this catastrophe. Therefore it is not surprising that the Germans themselves cannot easily look in the mirror and make a movie such as “All Quiet on the Western Front” or correctly analyze almost any of the events of the 20th century. Simply evokes too much guilt and pain.
Germans know better than than anyone that between 1914-1945 they lost forever their best genetic stock. Wise Germans realize that it was their inherent nature and cultural disposition that was at the core of this catastrophe. Therefore it is not surprising that the Germans themselves cannot easily look in the mirror and make a movie such as “All Quiet on the Western Front” or correctly analyze almost any of the events of the 20th century. Simply evokes too much guilt and pain.
The original 1930 version is fantastic, so watch that one first.
Paths of Glory and Full Metal Jacket by Kubrick... Two other great war films that really pack a punch and leave you enlightened.