All Quiet on the Western Front

It's like the producers of this film didn't even read the book they based the movie on

1.) One of the more grievous issues was including grand political intrigue with key leaders on both sides engaging in big-picture decisions instead of the lives of regular soldiers far away from the politicking of callous leaders. The politics are irrelevant to Paul and the other soldiers once they arrive on the front, and what the leaders decide do little besides make the lives of everyone in the trenches more miserable. Indeed when Paul is on leave and back in his home town (which the movie cut, more on that in a bit) he is simply numb to the talk local elderly men discussing complex geopolitics of what should be done to win the war. Showing the armistice process could have been interesting, but for another movie based on another work. This is not what Remarque's is about. This is one of the more blatant spits in the face to the themes of the book.

2.) Having Paul and friends come into the war at the very end was a stupid choice, as was spending very little time on their school and home life before they enlisted. Not showing their gradual transformation from eager green boys to disillusioned traumatized veterans, or the interaction a more experienced Paul will have with similar new recruits, is another big contradiction to Remarque's novel.

3.) Leaving out Paul's leave and return home. HO BOY does this really show the Germans working for Netflix had no idea what they were doing with adapting this. One of the key moments of the book, that shows Paul completely detached from the life he once knew. It was an early 20th century journey into common themes of PTSD you see in war movies today. I am perplexed as to why they cut out such a pivotal moment, and replaced it with a largely useless plot about them stealing chickens from a French farmhouse.

4.) The depictions of life at the front. Too bombastic, too grandiose. Paul has big setpiece battles with tanks and flamethrowers, which Remarque never even encountered during his time in the war. Artillery is downplayed. The many other non-combat aspects to the misery of trench life is downplayed. Not a single rat is seen in this movie to my knowledge, nor does a single person get sick. The (inaccurate) flamethrowers burning randomly wounded german soldiers in the middle of the open (instead of how they were actually used) and the late-war french tanks behaving like the giant elephants of LOTR and driving into trenches completely unsupported were cool setpieces, but again misses the point of the novel as to the mundane, average, but nonetheless horrifying experience that the average soldier had.

5.) Which leaves me to the final big issue with the movie. The ending. Paul dies in a valiant last-stand after a huge sweeping battle, swinging a shovel around like a sword amidst a sea of french soldiers. In the book, Paul dies in an unremarkable (but common) way on an unremarkable day that his commanders described as one of all quiet on the Western Front. The callousness and assembly line meat grinder aspect of the whole war summed up in a final report by German officers. It was not all quiet on the Western Front when Paul died in the movie, there was a very large (fictional) French offensive in the final hours of the wars final day, a day still commemorated around the world today.

Overall, this movie (like many war or political movies) today misses the fact it was made by people uninvolved in the topic at hand and from a generation too pampered and detached from the subject matter. It lacks the first-hand authenticity that Remarque's book, the original film, and even the 1970s remake had. The non-stop action, the focus on the political big picture, the complete absence of Paul's home life all demonstrate this. Not that this comfort and privilege is a bad thing of course, but I can think of no other reason why they missed the mark on the themes of Remarque's work so completely.

Edit: am talking about the 2022 version, not the 1979 nor the 1930 versions.

Other than Schindler's List, this is the most moving war film I've watched to date.

The sheer pointlessness of all the deaths was really brought home. There were a few bits in enemy at the gate and and also in 1917 that came close what most of this film portrayed. The scene in the trench close to the time of the armistice - just incredible.

When you zoom out and hear of 10, 000s people dying in way on this day, and the same every day for years, and then zoom in and imagine it being like how the individual barbarity was shown in the film multiplied by 1000s each day - that was what did it for me. I think it was that scale of what it made me feel about the situations of individual's were in.

I'd love to hear what others think about this film.

Edit2; . I now think I remember seeing the 1979 version about 40 years ago, and was wondering why the title was familiar.