Although overlong, Edward Berger’s very loose remake, and adaptation of “All Quiet in the Western Front”, features some of the most harrowing war sequences of the 21st century.
Set in 1917, Berger decides to take the bird’s eye view on things in his brutal depiction of the First World War. Following the enemy, German troops who have no idea what they signed up for, the film’s first 100 or so minutes are so hypnotic and so effervescently horrific that you forgive its unneeded and pedantic last stretch. The film clocks in at about 140 minutes (credits not included).
This is a war movie from the perspective of the losers, a fly-on-the-wall depiction featuring a mosaic of characters. Anti-war filmmaking with, at the start, at least, not any apparent lead until Felix Kammerer in the lead role emerges as the core of the story.
Almost 3/4 of this film is absolutely visceral. You feel the dirt, the stench, the pain. There are stretches that bring the viewer right to the thick of the peace negotiations between Germany and France. I didn’t mind those stretches at all, they give us a better understanding of the “masters of war” playing their dangerous game of chess.
No, “All Quiet on the Western Front” doesn’t reinvent the war movie. There’s gloss. There’s familiarity. But that doesn’t really deter from the overall impact of the whole thing. The action is elaborately staged, the editing beautifully fluid. This should be seen on the biggest screen possible and the fact that it’ll be streaming on Netflix in a week or so means most audiences won’t be experiencing Berger’s film to its full extent. [B+]