All Quiet on the Western Front

War is hell and for a little over two and a half hours, All Quiet on the Western Front displays its ghastly horrors without ever venturing into voyeuristic consumption, opting instead to unsettle its audience with bleak realities and sobering truths.

Rather than portray its characters as glorious heroes bravely fighting for their country, or even ending the film on an optimistic note, "All Quiet on the Western Front" is tragic from beginning to end, and is relentlessly, almost unbearably, bleak. That's the point. It's the ultimate anti-war war film.

If 1917 (and to some extent, War Horse) were stories of survival, gussied up with big technical gimmicks, All Quiet On The Western Front is an even more visually beautiful film that never lets you forget the main point about The Great War: that it was A Bad Idea That Ended Badly. Berger drives this point home studiously, meticulously, poetically, and by the end, a little repetitively.

Nobody could mistake All Quiet on the Western Front for anything other than an anti-war film, but the deafening, careering action — shot in predictably desaturated tones by James Friend — still works to create an unhealthy surge in the viewer.

We should never become accustomed to the horrors of war, so for all its familiarity (morally and formally), the movie still feels necessary.

Coupling a minimalist (albeit loud-and-thumping) score by Volker Bertelmann and a cold, unfeeling color scheme by cinematographer James Friend gives a menacing, unwaveringly serious savagery to director Edward Berger’s aesthetic—danger and imminent violence are palpable even when there is hardly any action onscreen.

Filmmakers have arguably lost the plot, turning “War is hell” into a “Can you top this?” competition.

Amazing. Everybody should watch it. The cinematography istop,level personally one the best in the world. Definitely rewatch again.

[SPOILER ALERT: This review contains spoilers.]

Good photos and scenery, but a slightly boring story

This film uses so little from the novel that I wonder why the director bothered to use the title at all. No character development, flat performances, poorly written scenes. This movie is trying to be anti-war but there is no heft beyond aesthetics. It's just shock schlock.

Don't be fooled, the resemblance to the book is very superficial. While the book was a very powerful manifesto agaisnt the war, this movie is full of cliches and just another war flick....