All Quiet on the Western Front (2022)
Based on the 1929 literary novel — which was later adapted into an Oscar-winning movie in 1930, a made-for-TV movie in 1979, and finally, a film released theatrically and on Netflix in 2022 — this German language World War I movie remains one of the starkest examples of anti-war sentiment in cinematic history. All Quiet follows Paul Bäumer (Felix Kammerer), a young German recruit, over the course of the 18 months he spends serving in Northern France on the frontlines of the war's Western Front.
Director Edward Berger's film focuses on Paul's transformation; the longer the conflict rages on, the further the young man drifts from a youthful, patriotic enlistee, to a battle-hardened soldier, traumatized by what he's seen and those he's lost. An aesthetic experience, EW's critic writes that "the spectral score by composer Volker Bertelmann is gorgeously unsettling, and the cinematography achieves a kind of painterly, panoramic grandeur." —Ilana Gordon
Where to watch All Quiet on the Western Front: Netflix
EW grade: A– (read the review)
Director: Edward Berger
Cast: Felix Kammerer, Albrecht Schuch, Daniel Brühl
