All Quiet on the Western Front (2022) Review: Edward Berger’s Masterful Adaptation of a Classic Anti-War Novel

Out of all the war stories that have been told in the nearly 150 years of film, All Quiet on the Western Front has been the one story to stand the test of time.

In 1930, Lewis Milestone directed the first film adaptation of the novel, which had only been in circulation for a year. This adaptation was the first film to win the Best Picture and Best Director Oscars at the 3rd Academy Awards. Nearly 50 years later, Delbert Mann directed a made-for-television adaptation for CBS that won a Golden Globe for Best Motion Picture Made for Television and a Primetime Emmy for Outstanding Film Editing for a Limited Series or a Special.

I left out some essential information while catching you up on the history of the adaptations of All Quiet on the Western Front. The novel from which these films have been adapted was written by a German veteran of the First World War, Erich Maria Remarque, and was banned and burned in Nazy Germany.

Also, its name is Im Westen nichts Neues in German, which roughly translates to "Nothing New in the West," not All Quiet on the Western Front. The title comes from A.W. Wheen, the translator tasked with translating the novel from German to English in 1929.

Lastly, nearly every adaptation of the novel was adapted by British or American directors, songwriters, narrators, and writers, until now.

The poster for All Quiet on the Western Front, courtesy of Netflix.

In 2022, Netflix released another film adaptation of the novel, but this time, it's directed by a German director, Edward Berger, features German actors speaking German, and restores the title of the novel as the German name of the film. As one can imagine, this more faithful adaptation of the German novel was a big hit at the 95th Oscars, nominated for nine Oscars, and won four of them. The five other categories in which it was nominated in it lost to Everything Everywhere All at Once (Best Picture), Women Talking (Best Adapted Screenplay), Top Gun: Maverick (Best Sound), The Whale (Best Makeup and Hairstyling), and Avatar: The Way of Water (Best Visual Effects).

Now that we're all caught up on the history of the novel's publication and its many film adaptations, what do I think about it? It might be the best war story I've ever seen. The only ones that even come close to what Berger's story does with the effect of war on a single soldier might be Sam Mendes's Jarhead, Jim Sheridan's Brothers, Jason Hall's Thank You for Your Service, and Mendes' 1917. Of course, that's being overly generous since those films tackle the horrors of war, but they are missing the experience of war itself and tend to focus on coming home in the case of Brothers and Thank You for Your Service.

Paul Bäumer (Felix Kammerer) standing in front o of his fellow German soldier. Image courtesy of Netflix.

Berger's adaptation of All Quiet on the Western Front focuses instead on the actual war and how it changes the people participating. From the jump, our lead character, Paul Bäumer (Felix Kammerer), is enlisting to join the German army alongside his friends. Through this decision by Berger, the audience is allowed to feel precisely what Paul is feeling in almost realtime, rather than the audience being told about it later or being dropped into select parts of the main character's discovery arc (looking at you, Brothers, and Thank You for Your Service).

Another thing that this decision allows for is to paint a more realistic picture of World War I that doesn't feel as though our main character is being put on a pedestal like in 1917. There's no all-important mission critical to winning the war (although it does briefly dip its toes into this realm with a B-plot I'll discuss later). It's just one German recruit trying to stay alive long enough to go home eventually.

Speaking of, this is probably the best time to talk about the screenplay written by Berger, Lesley Paterson, and Ian Stokell. First and foremost, the script doesn't follow traditional narrative framing in that the story has no structure. While Paul's character is who the screenplay uses to portray the horrors of war, but not what the story is necessarily about. The film portrays the lives of the entire German army during World War I, how chaotic their lives were during this time, and ultimately driving home that war is horrific.

Paul Bäumer (Felix Kammerer) being embraced by a bloodied soldier in front of a raging fire. Image courtesy of Netflix.

A great example of how the screenplay uses Paul is a scene early on where he gets his uniform. Before Paul is even introduced, a sequence tells the story of a young soldier named Henrich (Jakob Schmidt), who dies in battle. After his uniform is collected, washed, and patched, it's given to Paul, and the nametag is ripped off, obscuring that Paul's current uniform previously belonged to Henrich. All Quiet on the Western Front is a tale of stories about humans being used as collateral with little concern for the individual's life.

Another example of how little life is valued in the screenplay would be through a B-plot in the film that detracted a bit from the overall anti-war messaging. Remember how I said earlier that the film doesn't have an all-important mission? In this B-plot, German official Mattias Erzberger (Daniel Brühl) is tasked by German High Command to begin armistice negotiations with the Allied nations.

While this plot interweaves some actual history into the narrative, I frequently felt these scenes were being used as a filler. While it adds more context to the German army's thoughts about World War I, it's like adding sprinkles on top of ice cream. It's nice to have, but at the end of the day, will you remember those tiny sprinkles you ate before you got to the ice cream? Not really. Especially when you view it in the context that these scenes didn't exist in the novel and give us an antagonist we didn't need in General Friedrichs (Devid Striesow), who gives orders from his French chateau and doesn't want to surrender.

Another way Berger drives his anti-war message home is through James Friend's cinematography.

The frames have this blueish-gray hue that only becomes warm when fires cast an orange glow or in the pools of blood strewn across the battlefield. On top of this color grading, the way Friend shoots the film as though he's a soldier running next to a soldier helps to ground the viewer in a claustrophobic "no man's land" where anything can happen (and does) happen.

As immersive as the cinematography is, I can't say the same for Volker Bertlemann's score, which primarily consists of the electric guitar version of Hans Zimmer's infamous BWOMs in Inception. This three-note BWOM detracts from the experience of the emotionless war unfolding before the viewer's eyes. In practical terms, think of the accompaniment on the same level as playing "Without Me" by Eminem at a funeral. It doesn't fit, and the viewer is often left scratching their head trying to deign its purpose. There are plenty of films that have made use of a maximalist score, but this is doing way too much.

Berger does a splendid job of adapting the 1929 German novel into something that still resonates with modern audiences. Go check this out as soon as possible.

★★★★★

All Quiet on the Western Front is now available to stream with a Netflix subscription.

Until next time!

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