I began writing this review slightly later than usual, as the film evoked strong emotions in me. It took some time to process each component, appreciate the intricate details that resonated with me and stirred up profound emotions within.
In general, I really like watching movies.
But there are times when this is amiss.
And war in my country is just such a time. But when I saw the film teaser, I couldn’t resist the pleasure.
The war topic is not only relevant for me now (I live in Ukraine 100 kilometers from the front line), but also interesting for many reasons. In addition, the plot is based on the work of a famous writer. It’s fate – watch this tape right now.
“All Quiet on the Western Front” (2022) the first movie I’ve watched in a very long period.
General observations
Faces
Felix Kammerer, played by Paul Bäumer, is the only actor I want to mention. He is the main character here, the whole picture rests on him. Additional characters are vague and frankly pale against the Paul background.
Popularity rating
The time of writing this review, the film has 2nd place in the popular films ranking today.
Scenario
Movie is based on the Erich Maria Remarque work. I haven’t read it, but I’ve heard a lot about this novel. I know that the writer was not at the front for a long time himself, but nevertheless in this short period of time he saw a lot greatly influenced his work and the themes of his works.
There are the following lines in one Remarque’s book review: “he calls these young people the “lost generation”, because they will no longer be able to adapt a “normal” peaceful life due to mental and psychological injuries received during the war. This problem is one of the most important in the novel.”
This is exactly what the film is about, although, of course, the director’s mission, first of all, was to depict the war, its character, its essence, real, uncompromising and cruel.
And the team successfully succeeded.
Historicity
Special emphasis was placed on the battles’ senselessness in a specific front section, which line did not significantly shift, but at the same time claimed the several million lives on both sides.
Propaganda
Those times propaganda did not know the current speed and mass. It sounded from the officers and teachers mouths, political leaders, parents and ardent acquaintances.
The newlyweds practically had no choice, which way to go, how and what to do. In those difficult years of the 20th century beginning, they were prepared for war from a young age, and if not for war, then at least for a very difficult life. The world stood on the threshold of radical changes.
The Director and the Actor in the Main Role
Edward Berger is a director known to a narrow circle of cinema lovers. He has only two bright works in his arsenal: the full-length Jack (2014) and the mini-series for TV Deutschland 83 (2015). In two years, they collected more than 10 awards in various categories. Edward Berger’s roots, origins and path to cinema fit very organically into “Im Westen nichts Neues” (2022) (that is an original title). It is the same if a Ukrainian will shoot a tape about Ukraine. This is a powerful combo, which as a result gives its bright fruits.
Felix Kammerer is a debut in big cinema and is immediately so powerful. At the age of 27, attention was drawn to him, most likely, because of the expressive appearance inherent in Germans, and certainly excellent casting. I don’t know how his further path in cinema will develop, but the boy has potential. He did not just play his role in the film, but he lived it, he remained in this film completely, melted, dissolved. Great performance, great job by the casting department and by Felix ofc. I look forward to the next film with his participation.
Feedback on “Im Westen nichts Neues”. Contrasts
Contrasts are what will happen throughout the film. Some transitions are quite expressive, some not so much. Sometimes you are scared, and sometimes you are ready for a drastic change.
This frantic pattern is drawn as if not by the director, but by the war itself as such, by default. He (director Edward Berger) seems to have stepped aside, allowing events to take place independently of the original work and set.
Civilian life – colorful, as soon as the war begins – immediately becomes gray and green.
Musical accompaniment in unison reinforces these contrasts, scares, prepares for the terrible, finishes with control shots in key episodes.
Contrasts do not let you forget any moment what the film is about.
You were just lulled to sleep by the calm front-line conversations about civilian life, as a moment later there was cloud, blood, death and ashes again.
Whoever emphasized this aspect is definitely a genius.
It is these contrasts that keep the viewer in good spirits, the tension reverberates even in the quietest episodes. This is a higher skill level – to find the film pace, its pattern, which will be as successful as possible, organic in relation to the plot and heroes.
The film events development. Speed
The dynamics are breathtaking. Contrasts, changing locations, musical solutions, work with the frame color – all this adds movement and liveliness, it adds real life to the film “All Quiet on the Western Front”, it seems to become an independent living organism…
Although the film lasts almost three hours, you don’t notice this passage time in the richness and visual narration expressiveness.
The speed and pace is constantly changing.
This tension and instability resonates as an additional factor telling about the war, because that is what this war is: today you run towards death in the abyss, the world changes every second, and tomorrow you peel potatoes all day on the outskirts without firing a single shot and talking to the front lines comrades about future victory or past civilian life.
This style reminded me of magnetic tape audio cassettes. There too, it was possible to slow down the music playback by simply pressing your finger on the tape recorder strips, which rotate the cassette.
The story sometimes shines in the speed of events, then calmly slumbers in quiet scenes.
This contrast is more appropriate than ever and I really liked it as a directorial decision.
This is not the first tape about war for me, I have seen a lot and it is difficult to surprise me with something. I did not expect much from this film, because I understand how difficult it is to please the modern audience.
But in “All Quiet on the Western Front” (2022) it succeeded. First of all, due to the unique director style, who managed to breathe life into such a well-worn military theme.
The movietape is alive, you can feel it right away, and every next minute you wonder how it breathes, how it exists in characters emotions, in the soundtrack, in perfectly placed shots, in the colors play and changing plot directions.
Details of the film “All Quiet on the Western Front”
Details are thought out, accurate, unusual.
They add depth to the tape.
That is one of the films where you notice them, and upon re-watching you will definitely notice other, less obvious ones.
The real director and cinematographer skill lies in these details.
War has many details, it has an infinite number of faces.
Each of them requires attention and thoroughness in staging. All the details in the film “Im Westen nichts Neues” are to my liking and were depicted in a very timely manner.
Straightness
The linearity of war strides through the film like a flying bullet.
Everything is very simple.
Everything is too simple.
Life.
Fight.
Death.
And so in a circle.
One dead person is replaced by another who performs similar tasks: survives in constant skirmishes with the enemy.
The main character’s evolution is just as straightforward and uncompromising.
War changes everyone who comes face-to-face with it. The change in the young soldier’s facial expression and outlook is noticeable from the first troubles at the front, after the first corpses, the first suffering, the first explosions and shocks what he saw.
During the one and a half years Paul Bäumer missed a lot and in the first takes you really want to know what exactly, you want to break down this view into its components and listen carefully to every moment and cry of his soul.
But the director, well understanding this audience interest, unfolds the main character gradually. And this story is constantly accompanied by other upheavals.
Chaos replaces other chaos.
One gets the impression that Paul Bäumer himself does not have time to digest everything that is happening to him. He seems to want flirting with war, to find a common language with it, to justify his devotion to country, his enthusiasm for military affairs, and on the other hand, adequacy and education do not stop trying to remind him that this war is pointless, that it cannot be won in any way, that the price paid by ordinary people is too great.
He hides from these doubts and thoughts in fighting courage. When the order is given to go on the offensive, for a true soldier there is nothing but victory and the will to survive.
Exactly this tenacity Paul Bäumer demonstrates to us.
He gave all of himself to the war, and the war willingly swallowed him up…
Accents
I have already mentioned it in the text of this review above in different parts.
First, there is a significant difference between the fantasies and reality about war by young men.
War romanticization is perhaps the biggest problem of all time.
Until you see it with your own eyes, it will seem attractive from most angles.
Second, it is a war joys emphasis: letters, plain food, women, silence.
Soldiers frankly enjoy these periods when the active war phase freezes and they remember they are people, they have relatives, interests, life plans etc. In the combination of the mentioned contrasts, it looks very appropriate. Each of the soldiers is a separate universe, a separate life, a separate story. And we, like viewers, carefully consider, observe only one of millions.
Thirdly, the abyss between officers and ordinary soldiers. I don’t know how this situation is today, but in those years the difference was enormous. Some are in ideal, comfortable conditions and complain about yesterday’s pastries for breakfast, while others spend the night in frozen trenches and are ready to gnaw mud to survive. Higher positions embody their whims, and soldiers have to realize these desires, paying with their lives and comfort.
The fourth is war senselessness as such. And even if you forget that the Western Front during the First World War was the most senseless hostilities place (several million people died there for nothing), then the war itself is only a means of power demonstrating, solving the countries problems fighting in very cruel ways, it is development through murder, it is evolution through self-destruction. To date, humanity has not found anything more senseless and terrible. And the film “All Quiet on the Western Front” demonstrates this very aptly. The stolen eggs episode draws attention to this, along with Paul Bäumer’s final battle moments before the end of the war.
“We will wander like travelers in the landscapes of the past”
This phrase describes almost every living soldier who has returned from the front, who has seen death and horror.
The war traces remain till the life end, it does not allow someone to live peacefully, someone copes with this burden.
Adrenaline, freedom, genuineness, simplicity – these words I heard from an acquaintance whom I visited in the hospital after he was wounded in the battle for Ukraine in 2022 (this was two months ago).
For an ordinary person, these words simply sound, simply exist.
For a military man with several years of experience, these words are the whole universe, these words do not just sound, they echo and do not give rest when you return to “peaceful life”.
Absolutely everyone I knew before the war and met after it has one or another change. And above all, they refer to these four words.
In civilian life, these concepts are felt in a completely different way, they are transformed, just like the person himself.
Adrenalin. Survival, adaptation in difficult conditions, quick decision-making, animal instincts, time acceleration, all senses sharpening. This state is unforgettable and intoxicating, beckoning. It attracts those who have survived and want to try again.
You sometimes feel the taste of this adrenaline on your lips, in the film, you experience the most intense moments together with the main characters.
Freedom. You do what you want. Yes, there is an order, certain restrictions, but most of the time at the front you are still willing to do whatever and however you want. This freedom is intoxicating and sometimes inspires ridiculous actions.
Genuineness. In war, everything superfluous disappears, the main thing remains. This applies to absolutely everything.
War tears off all masks.
All people become real, all their desires, fears, character are revealed. Not only the main character appears before us, but everyone who was close to him. In this authenticity is all the drama and war “attractiveness”, because you are not distracted by thoughts of how real it is. You direct this resource to other things, dig deeper and see “nothing” or the same thing there. Because war is a very simple thing. Too simple…
Simplicity. As I have said more than once, everything is very simple. Excess disappears, freedom envelops you, adrenaline charges and all you have to do is survive and complete the mission.
Paul Bäumer does all this perfectly. He does his simple work perfectly, lives his simple life, full of love for his native country, for his relatives, for his friends.
Paul Bäumer is as simple as war.
He is war.
He became war.
He dissolved in war without a residue.
As war dissolved into millions of equally meaningless lives in return.
Simplicity resonates through the lack of weapons as such. If now wars are won by artillery, airplanes, and nuclear bombs, then people won mainly with bullets and their own corpses. There are relevant moments with a shovel, murders with a bayonet, with knife, fist fights.
In the First World War, everything was very simple, and this simplicity frees up space for many other things that an attentive viewer pays attention to.
The second plan
Acquaintance with secondary characters classically pushes us to experience their death more. But it looks quite organic, because it depicts the environment’s peculiarities and communication, the main character’s interaction, thus revealing it better.
Conclusions
This is one of those films I would like to advise you watch.
But I understand that the current state, the reality of my life, played a significant role in my perception.
And that is why almost everyone should watch this tape.
Especially if you don’t have many war films watched.
This is not just a film about war, it is an active and quite frank dialogue with the viewer.
And even if you don’t like the plot or individual elements in “All Quiet on the Western Front” (2022), at least it will ask a couple of uncomfortable questions.
Especially for me, the war theme resolutely and aptly entered reality through the film.
I lived with the main character’s simple and bright life.
I was born a soldier and died with him.
This personal tragedy exactly does not allow me to have a bad attitude towards this movie. This unique subjectivity is why I love cinema.
My rating is 10 out of 10
The best film about war.
(welcome read more about WAR on my site)
