Germany sends 'All Quiet on the Western Front' to Oscars

Deutsche Welle ^

[FarCenter]

A jury in Munich decided on Wednesday evening which production should get a chance to win the best international feature film Academy Award in 2023 — and selected "All Quiet on the Western Front" by Edward Berger, who also directed the "Deutschland 83" TV series.

"All Quiet on the Western Front" is based on Erich Maria Remarque's 1929 novel of the same name, which is regarded as the epitome of the anti-war novel. The German author paints a portrait of a generation of young men who are in an upbeat mood when they leave school for the front; they end up perishing in the murderous war machine of World War I.

At the time, "All Quiet on the Western Front" was the biggest success in German literary history.

The novel was first adapted for the screen in the US in 1930, a film that won two Oscars. A second film version followed in 1979.

Berger's production is the third version, albeit the first from Germany.

"Erich Maria Remarque wrote a book almost 100 years ago that is, unfortunately, more relevant today than we expected," director Berger said after the announcement by German Films, the foreign representative of German cinema. He added that it's a great honor to enter the race for the Oscars with the film.

[Drew68]

Brühl was also in one of my all-time favorite movies, “Goodbye, Lenin!”

A great conservative film that underscored the ruin of communism.

[muir_redwoods]

From the book the German grunts supposedly chanted on marches;

“Give them all the same food
And all the same pay
And the war would be over
And done in a day”

Probably pretty accurate

[octex]

My dad (b.1909) had the book AND the book “Wings”, which also became a movie. I read them both when I was about 7-8.

Dad’s stepdad was in WWI, so I was frequently asking questions of them regarding words/terms/etc. about what I was reading.

Learned a lot from those two books at a young age.