Capsule Movie Review
Though it got nominated for both Best International Film and also a Best Picture Oscar, I suspect that not many people have yet seen All Quiet on the Western Front. Though most people know the book from its English translation, it's a German novel by Erich Maria Remarque -- which is notable here since the movie is from Germany.
It's tremendous. The movie, which is currently streaking on Netflix, is beautifully made -- tremendous cinematography and an impressively grand scale -- and emotional, though almost straight-forward dispassionate in its story-telling, which is an uncommon and difficult combination to pull off. The story is about four schoolfriends, focusing mostly on one, Paul Baümer, who enthusiastically join the German Army during WWI with visions of marching songs and exciting glory, and find that world upside down from their first moments on the battlefield.
The book is renowned for being one of the great anti-war tales, and the movie supports that superbly, yet without preaching, just presenting the world these people find themselves living in. The film is brutal and unflinching -- and powerful in both large and detailed, personal ways.
Here's the trailer. It does a pretty good job giving a sense of the film.
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