All Quiet on the Western Front - Netflix - Daniel Bruhl

Agent Coulson

Directed by Edward Berger based on the novel of the same name.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qFqgmaO15x4&ab_channel=Netflix

Aisling(",)

Looks well made and high quality but I don't know if I can bring myself to watch another grim bit of misery.

pixelburp

I have read the book, so the trailer seems to have captured the crushing, constant misery of the frontlines of WW1; as Aisling says, not sure I could fashion the enthusiasm to surround myself with its misery. Even if it looks very visceral from that promotion, with some intense action set-pieces to punctuate the despair.

Tony EH

Wonder will it get a cinema release over here.

I'm always reluctant to look forward to anything war related in movies and TV shows these days because a lot of them turn out to be absolute trash. But that looks pretty good. Of course the 1930's movie is a great classic, even if you have to allow for its period trappings, and the television movie from the 70's with John Boy Walton was also very good too and well worth a watch. In fact I prefer it to the Lewis Milestone version.

Shred

Aye I watched the latter a long time ago and probably when I was much too young to do so (I think I was about 12 or so). It's stuck with me to this day, especially

Spoiler Warning

the ending.

pixelburp

I'd "worry" in an effort to counteract the "war is hell" angle, they'll overegg the action scenes and make them excessively cool and exciting - which would obviously defeat the point somewhat. Mind you, could just be how the trailer has been cut.

Slydice

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119647819#Comment_119647819

Depends on Daniel Brühl I'd be guessing. I'd think he has a solid performance in him if he brings it.

Agent Coulson

Full trailer

Drops October 28th on Netflix and selected cinemas.

I am looking forward to watching this however I do think you would want to be in the right frame of mind to watch it

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hf8EYbVxtCY&ab_channel=Netflix

pixelburp

Seems Kermode already had a chance to watch it, so had presumed the UK were already screening it in cinemas?

The good doctor himself was impressed with it; seems exactly as harrowing and impactful as you'd imagine, with some of the "action" set-pieces pretty intense. You get that from the above trailer with the tank.

Long time since I read the novel - looks like the Daniel Brühl character is a new insert, right? IIRC the book was 100% from the point of view of the soldier - there was nothing about negotiations and the civilian government pleading for a stop to the fighting.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FPXWuctU2DU

Tony EH

Yeh. Everything is from the POV of Paul Baumer in the book.

I can't recall anything in it about governments talking about stopping the fighting though. The only major parts on the home front, IIRC, is when Paul is encouraged to enlist by his school master, who is full of jingoistic junk. He and his school mates do. Later when Paul is on leave, he encounters some old blokes blathering on about the war and how great it is to be involved, even though they have no idea what it's like at the front line.

SheepsClothing

It's playing in the Movies@ chain of cinemas at the moment, who seem to have got fully into bed with Netflix. They screened Blonde last month and have Wendell and Wild and The Good Nurse next week.

Homelander

Very good movie. In a lot of ways it's the movie I expected 1917 to be but was left disappointed.

Definitely worth seeing on the big screen if you can find time before it's gone. We're now 3 for 3 on movie adaptations.

Daniel Bruhl has a pretty minor role but scenes are good.

Level 5 Vegan

Caught it in the Lighthouse, enjoyed it well enough, powerful but not overly grim, worth the effort to see on a cinema screen.

pixelburp

Dropped today on Netflix.

KilOit

That was awful

Great movie but war is just brutal, no one wins

themandan6611

Grim would be an understatement. Fantastic movie showing war for what it is. The scene in the crater was one of the most riveting I can remember in a movie for a long time. Those poor boys, a special place in hell awaited the men who facilitated the butchery.

Decent watch but not enough plot and drama to get me really connected. You kinda know everything thats gonna happen in something like this. Nothing really new there, and characters i didnt grow to like or care for.

If a film maker can't make a decent movie out of a superb book like All Quiet on the Western Front then it's a failure of the film makers ability.

This film maker decides Erich Maria Remarques book is not good enough as it is, so it has to be jazzed up a bit.

It's a good movie but why bother hijacking the book to make another movie that isn't really about the book?

Here's a great novel, let's change it into what I want.

No, Phuck off. Make your own movie if you can but don't use the name of a great novel to get your own movie made.

McGrath5

So watched it last night - its intense and brutal in parts. Liked how they showed the contrast between the generals in comparable luxury versus the misery of their soldiers. I haven't read the book, but did the last battle actually happen were they fought right up till 11am on November 11th?

Tony EH

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119814948#Comment_119814948

The last major offensive on the Western Front was at Amiens in August. But there were skirmishes all along the front right up until the last day of the war. Thousands died on November 11th before the armistice.

Nigel Fairservice

All Quiet on the Western Front was one of the first grown up books I read as a teenager over 20 years ago so was looking forward to it when I saw the promos for the movie. It was a tough watch but got across the absurdity and horror of the war. The political element to the movie with Bruhl didn't take away from it I felt. I should probably give the book another read some time soon.

Homelander

Surprised to see it got an outright negative review on RogerEbert.

Tony EH

Haven't seen the movie yet, but that was a dreadful review. It spends more time talking about other films and at the end I was still none the wiser as to why the reviewer gave it just two stars.

SaoPaulo41

Absolutely brilliant, best release on Netflix in a long while

SaoPaulo41

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119814948#Comment_119814948

Nearly 3000 Americans died on last day with final attack by them at about 10.50 they wanted to show that the armistice was on their terms.

The American army had a huge investigation to see why and what the point of final attacks were, but they were vindicated in investigation, as said a few lines up they wanted to show that they finished war on front foot.

Last official person killed was at 10.58 think he was a Belguim soldier killed by a snipper

The war continued in Namibia for about another 3 weeks as news didn't arrive for them to stop

Decent but doesn't deserve the highest plaudits either.

Something daring and modern like "Dunkirk" craps all over something like this fairly trite piece as an actual war movie imo.

One detail that struck me as completely dumb and jarringly over-contrived was the guy walking 50 yards into a forest just to go for a piss - rubbish.

murpho999

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119821890#Comment_119821890

You watched the whole movie and your biggest takeaway was somebody walking away for a private piss? Really?

I don't see what was modern about Dunkirk (which was great by the way) as it was made with traditional methods ie on film, cardboard cutouts instead of CGI.

They didn't show it but I'd be certain Kenneth Brannagh's character didn't just piss on the bridge he was standing on but I don't find it important.

I thought AQOTWF was excellent and totally captured the horrors and inanities of war and portrayed how the normal soldiers lost their lives for nothing whilst living in terrible conditions whilst Generals sat in luxury whilst making poor and deadly decisions.

breezy1985

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119815085#Comment_119815085

Some people died needlessly on the morning of the 11th just so they could have their 11/11/11 nonsense. They knew they had a deal before then.

Anyway looking forward to seeing this.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119820266#Comment_119820266

You should read The Vanquished by Robert Gerwarth if you haven't already. Its about the parts of the world where 1918 wasn't the end of the war.

pixelburp

Utterly harrowing with barely any respite - but anything less and the whole point of the thing would have become redundant. The book, and thus the adaptation, had one job: to ram the audience's face in the mud and leave them without even a semblance of doubt just how hellish this war - and all war - often is for the grunts. The glorification of warfare in cinema has always has a very tricky, complicated relationship, too often prone to excitement and bombast; watching this reminded how openly distasteful it can be when movies make warfare look cool.

But equally, there were moments of genuine warmth and empathy between the doomed souls. Again, Hollywood tends towards its male protagonists hardened with stoicism and bravado - men being "men" in the face of oblivion. Here instead were young boys and men scared, lonely and hungry - but they clung to each other for emotional support. There was a strange but understandable intimacy between the group, none of them ever chastising the others for their desperate eccentricities or obvious terror masked with trivial moments of normalcy.

The tank scene wasn't from the book IIRC, but damn if it wasn't a moment of low key, visceral horror. I think it should have gone on for longer, but it was a testament to the film that as goofy as those old school machines look, they were rendered as terrifying behemoths to the poor bastàrds caught in their tracks. Who wouldn't freak out with those coming towards you?

As to the diplomacy scenes, and those at the General's mansion? I actually thought they worked. Was prepared to find them all a bit tedious, but the book somewhat expected its reader to be aware of the context in which WW1 started - and was precipitated. We needed that reminder at just how contemptuous of their soldiers those at the top of the food chain were - on all sides. Some moments verged on parody - such as the little scene with the stale croissants - but by and large wasn't overplayed; the couple of uses of the Kuleshov Effect relatively restrained.

Ultimately, this adaptation remains a solid reminder why the book must be constantly updated, adapted; because each generation must be told in no uncertain terms both the cost of the war, and to detest those who'd either seek, prolong or even celebrate it. I still think there's room for Adventures During War such as personal favourite, Kelly's Heroes.

riffmongous

I was really looking forward to this but didn't enjoy it, parts felt a little melodramatic to me for what should be a serious movie.. plus we actually saw very little of life in the trenches.. Instead of the crushing misery and awful conditions we got a few action scenes and them hanging around behind the front, disappointing

silverharp

there was one scene in the 70's movie where the soldier on leave comes across a bunch of old timers playing war games at a cafe table and you can tell he is disgusted by it. I was hoping for a similar scene in this film. Overall a very good movie , the recycled uniforms got me

and for a random criticism , I dont think it was snowing in France on the 11/11 , I doubt it ever snows that early in western europe

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