Netflix All Quiet on the Western Front

Discussion in 'Books, Films, TV, Radio' started by von Poop, Nov 2, 2022.

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  1. von Poop

    von Poop Adaministrator Admin

    Don't seem to have watched much 'War Film' for a long while, but after 'Rogue Heroes' thought I'd give the new version of Remarque's little slice of grimness a go.

    Very good indeed.
    Had to tune into the dubbing a little, but as I've no longer the patience for the (objectively better) subtitled experience, that's a small thing.
    Obviously it's all unremittingly awful, and you know exactly where it's heading, but still manages to retain the sense of beauty and humanity essential to adapting the novel.

    We did it at school for O level, which is usually a guaranteed way to put me off something for life, but it's stayed with me as I 'enjoyed' the book as a teen & loved the better known 20s film version (what first showed me subtitled/old films could be great & launched a brief Kurosawa obsession). This version offers no insult or overshadow of what went before, it's an exceptionally well screwed together bit of work that adds to the legacy.

    Declared defeatist and decadent by the Nazis, so it's sort of nice to see it still up and running with proper funding.
    Well worth two hours of your time.


    Vehicles really have got better in films... excepting the inevitable tracked compromises.

    MV5BYTU2OWJhMjYtMjc2Ni00OTg4LTkxNGYtYjgwNGMyNjA3ODcxXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMTUzMTg2ODkz._V1_.jpg
     
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  2. A-58

    A-58 Not so senior Member

    I watched it last night and thoroughly enjoyed it. It varied from the book and the two movies, the original theatrical release and the made for TV version a bit, causing a slight hope for a change in destiny for the protagonists. Not meaning to ruin it for those who haven’t viewed this fine production just yet, so I’ll refrain from posting spoilers or going further than I already have here.

    So get the popcorn and the soda pops ready (or whatever you people drink over there when watching movies) and settle in for a really good war flick, and just be grateful that we didn’t have to experience any of that dreadful business.
     
    Last edited: Nov 3, 2022
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  3. alberk

    alberk Well-Known Member

    Hi everyone - I am so bold to ask something on this WW1 film on our WW2 forum:

    I started watching the film on Netflix - and I am not too impressed yet. I know the old film and read the book - both very stromg works of art. Not sure that I want to finish the new film - it's too long, anyway. two and a half hours - come on...

    Regarding the new film: The set and production design are fine, the music is fine, so I can understand why it received Oscars for these aspects. But with a lot of things I keep thinking: that's not how it is done in the army, that's not how they did it in WW1.

    My question: What about the beginning - when they undress their own dead and recycle the uniforms? Is that realistic at all?

    Alex
     
  4. Owen

    Owen -- --- -.. MOD

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  5. alberk

    alberk Well-Known Member

    I was really bored with the regular TV programme and ran out of other things to watch on Netflix - so I gave it try, curiuous why it received so much acclaim.
     
  6. SDP

    SDP Incurable Cometoholic

    I found it a very good film, so provided:
    1. You don't assess it as a War film - because it isn't a War film, it's a film about War (remember the Harry Patch quote about "War not being worth a single life")
    2. You only assess it as giving a message about the horrors and futility of War (the very first scenes and the twist at the end being key in this understanding)
    3. You ignore any books and films that preceded this film - don't compare the book and films. I'm lucky in this respect in that I read the book and watched the previous film so long ago they have effectively gone from my memory.
    4. Relax with a couple of beers while you watch it....and reflect on the way our World appears to be heading......
     
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  7. alberk

    alberk Well-Known Member

    That should help...
     
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  8. ltdan

    ltdan Nietenzähler

    It is not a documentary film, but a product of the entertainment industry. As such, its primary purpose is to generate revenue.
    And the old saying applies here: the worm must taste good to the fish, not the angler.
    If you look at the film from this point of view, it is a quite well-made adaptation of an almost 100-year-old literary model, adapted to the broad public taste of the 21st century
    And, from a nerd's perspective, one is grateful these days that no Caterpillars with steampunk fantasy superstructures appeared during the tank attack.... (Which 80% of the audience probably wouldn't have noticed).
     
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  9. Sheldrake

    Sheldrake All over the place....

    This is the third version of "Alls Quiet on the Western Front." I suspect this is because it fitsther war is bad/peace is good message consistent with Oh What a Loverly War, Black Adder and Birdsong version of of the First World War. Remarck seems to have servedfor just over a month in Flanders until wounded on the first day of the third battle of Ypres.

    There are other memoirs that tell a different story.

    Herbert Sulzbach was so incensed by Alls Quiet that he wrote and published his own memoirs in 1935 - "With the German Guns four years on the Western Front" This was muchmore popular with the Nazi regime - until they worked out that Sulzbach was a jew. Great book. Could be a movie. https://www.amazon.co.uk/German-Guns-Western-Military-Classics/dp/1844150194

    Ernst Junger's "Storm of Steel" is another German memoir by a proud Stosstrupp. https://www.amazon.co.uk/Storm-Stee...&sprefix=srorm+of+steel+,stripbooks,91&sr=1-1

    Adolf Hitler's Mein Kampf".... Maybe we don't go there....

    I would like to see a film version of a brilliant British memoir - The War the Infantry Knew. This is the story of the 2nd Battlaion the Royal Welsh Fusiliers throughout the First World War. Written by Dr John Dunn, this isnpt any old regimental history. It was written with contributions from the survivors,including Siegfried Sasson. Its a British Band of Brothers and deserves to be a mini-series.
     
  10. alberk

    alberk Well-Known Member

  11. JDKR

    JDKR Member

    Why only two? :cheers:
     
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  12. Anticipation was not met by satisfaction when I finally watched it the other night. The addition of the Armistice train sequences and the silly "lunatic general orders a last attack before the war ends" nonsense added nothing to the original source material, while the adaptation eliminated pretty much everything that made the original book and movie so good.

    The scenery-chewing of the actors was laughable, especially the stereotypical bad Prussian general.

    Even the musical trope, repeated ad nauseum in the film and then at the Academy Awards the other night was simply bad.

    Just bad. Two thumbs down and one star out of ten and only for the cinematography from me. God awful.
     
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  13. Quarterfinal

    Quarterfinal Well-Known Member

    Have not seen it yet. Had wondered about taking grandchildren, but will probably wait and watch with friends, since I would prefer to view it auf Deutsch, as a separator from previous offerings.

    Post the remarkable "They shall grow not old," I will inevitably be subliminally drawn for at least a nanosecond to the depiction of teeth. Ditto the daftness of some vignettes - ever since watching the Tommy annoying his mate by repeatedly tipping his brodie with a piece of 4x2.

    One overdue a dust off is "Her Privates We" by Frederick Manning (alternatively titled "The Middle Parts of Fortune"). Part of my English Literature O level submission was a study between it and All Quiet ..... I passed, but School got a letter suggesting any similar future submissions should be based on the expurgated version. I also included observations drawn from "Oh what a lovely war," which I watched with a veteran whose reaction after 20 minutes was to walk out. Wilf, a former bombardier Royal Field Artillery, was the only person I have ever met who got a fine for 'Furious Driving'.
     
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  14. SDP

    SDP Incurable Cometoholic

    Very good point.....
     
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  15. 14/264

    14/264 Active Member

    I've watched the film and quite enjoyed it, just noting that it had very little to do with the source material. Cinematically it was excellent, although the inner pedant in me did flinch at some of the scenes. I did wonder, though, if the final scene was a reference to the 'stab in the back' theory, so popular with a political party in the past, or am i just reading too much into it? I do have a tendency to overthink things sometimes.
     

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