I’m generally not one of those people who gets angry about remakes. You know the kind, frequently found in the comment sections under every news story about the latest Hollywood reboot. My feeling has always been that most remakes begin with the best of intentions, and should be given the benefit of the doubt. That being said, when you decide to do a new adaptation of one of the most famous novels ever written, which has already been made into one of the greatest films of all time, the margin for error shrinks somewhat.
Edward Berger’s bombastic reimagining of ‘All Quiet on the Western Front’, the latest adaptation of Erich Maria Remarque’s landmark novel is a very well put together film. Technically, it is an extremely impressive rendering of the hell on Earth that the Western Front surely was. However, you can feel it straining to be ‘Come and See’ when it should be trying harder to be an adaptation of ‘All Quiet on the Western Front’, which it really isn’t in anything other than name.
The novel, and the masterpiece 1930 film directed by Lewis Milestone are not just anti-war, they vividly capture the isolating and detaching impact war has on soldiers, and how the toll it takes on them is so profound they can never truly return to their old lives. This version just revels in the chaos and carnage. And in fairness, I can see why so many people have responded positively. I’m not sure I understand all the Oscars and BAFTAs, but I do get why audiences would be blown away by the visceral action Berger and his DP James Friend have conjured.
However, the structural tweaks Berger and his co-writers have made, dramatically reduce the emotional and thematic heft of the story. The plot follows Paul (Felix Kammerer), a young man who excitedly enlists in the German army. He and his friends share a naively romantic view of war, which is soon crushed when they are deployed to the corpse-strewn hellscape of the Western Front. In between the deafening battles, and periods of calm depicting Paul and his starving comrades trying to steal food from nearby French farms, there is a new subplot about the political efforts to bring about the armistice.
These new sequences, which are likely there to add some tension as well as laying some historic breadcrumbs for what happened in Germany in the 20s and 30s, do in fact add very little. Most noticeable however are the changes to the ending, which I won’t go into, and the decision to remove arguably the most poignant sequence from the source material, where Paul briefly returns home whilst on leave. Presumably the filmmaker wanted their version to be different, and they have succeeded, by completely missing the point. It might be visually stunning, but it is an ultimately hollow adaptation.
It has however been given a very handsome 2-disc limited edition 4K UHD release, in the mediabook format. The mediabook packaging comes with a 24-page booklet that includes ‘Sharing the German Perspective’ – a conversation with director Edward Berger and ‘A Machine of Death Unlike Any Experienced Before’ – an interview with historian and professor Daniel Schönpflug on the historical background of ‘All Quiet on the Western Front.’
Both the 4K and Blu-ray discs include a feature length audio commentary with the director, trailers, and a behind the scenes documentary that goes into great detail on how the epic sets were made.
Cast: Felix Kammerer, Albrecht Schuh, Daniel Brühl Director: Edward Berger Writer: Edward Berger, Lesley Paterson, Ian Stokell Released By: Netflix / capelight pictures Certificate: 15 Duration: 147 mins Release Date: 24th April 2023
