Editorial: All Quiet on the Western Front

Image: https://unsplash.com/photos/CzsHs8A87Y0

ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT 

Everyone knows the famous roman by Erich Maria Remarque all quiet on the western front. It is more than 100 years old and enjoys a huge fan community like Spinia login. But what is the meaning behind this classic?

Teenager Paul Bäumer (Felix Kammerer) and his friends Albert (Aaron Hilmer) and Müller (Moritz Klaus) voluntarily enlist in the German army during World War I and ride a wave of patriotic fervor that quickly dissolves into goodwill. Disillusioned and shocked, they discover that the fight for Germany is not a purely honorable cause at all, but a deadly slaughter. Once the young soldiers face the brutal realities of life on the front lines, death and loss are among the daily horrors. Paul's preconceptions about the enemy, about the right and wrong of the conflict soon collapse like a house of cards. Until the armistice, however, Paul must continue to fight without fulfilling the leading military's desire to end the war with a German offensive. And just when it seems the horror and ordeal has come to an end and the men can go home, General Friedrichs (Devid Striesow) makes a momentous decision. For he cannot simply accept defeat for Germany.

Now - almost 100 years after the novel was published - there is also a German adaptation for the first time. With the Netflix millions behind him, Edward Berger ("Jack") can really get to work on this one. Strongly illustrated and also acoustically impressive, he draws the audience into the midst of senseless dying.

THE INTERNATIONAL HYPE

Edward Berger's "Nothing New in the West" is the first German cinema adaptation of Erich Maria Remarque's novel. The film won four Oscars at last night's Academy Awards ceremony.

"And the Oscar goes to: 'Nothing New in the West'." The film team around director Berger and producer Malte Grunert could hope nine of the awards. The film won four: for Best Cinematography, Best International Film, Best Sound Design and Best Score.

The film is neither an indictment nor a confession. It simply shows the ruthlessness of war, the senselessness of how hundreds of thousands of men are sacrificed here. It is dirty, grimy, brutal, there are hand-to-hand combat scenes that go on for minutes, the blood splatters on the camera and there is mud everywhere.

Berger's film is realistic and doubly frightening given the current developments of the war in Ukraine. Incendiary, Berger says in the interview, "Basically, the story hasn't changed. 100 years ago, young people went to war and were persuaded by demagogues, through propaganda and manipulation, to do so with enthusiasm. It's the same today. It hasn't changed."