All Quiet on the Western Front

Set during World War I, it follows the life of an idealistic young German soldier named Paul Bäumer. After enlisting in the German Army with his friends, Bäumer finds himself exposed to the realities of war, shattering his early hopes of becoming a hero as he does his best to survive. The film adds a parallel storyline not found in the book, which follows the armistice negotiations to end the war.

All Quiet on the Western Front premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 12, 2022, and was released to streaming on Netflix on October 28. The film received positive reviews with praise directed towards its tone, the cinematography, the makeup, the performances, Volker Bertelmann’s musical scores, Berger’s direction, and the relevant anti-war message, however critics were divided over the film’s faithfulness to Remarque’s source material, with several key sequences from the novel being omitted or altered. It received a leading 14 nominations at the 76th British Academy Film Awards (winning seven, including Best Film) and nine at the 95th Academy Awards, including Best Picture, and won four: Best International Feature, Best Cinematography, Best Original Score, and Best Production Design. The four wins tied All Quiet on the Western Front with Fanny and Alexander (1982), Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000), and Parasite (2019) as the most-awarded foreign language film in the Oscars’ history. It was nominated in twelve categories for the 2023 German Film Awards, and won eight, plus the Silver Award for Best Picture.

On November 7, 1918, German State Secretary Matthias Erzberger, weary of mounting losses, meets with German High Command to persuade them to begin armistice talks with the Allied powers. Meanwhile, Paul and Kat steal a goose from a farm to share with Albert, Franz, and another veteran, Tjaden Stackfleet, with whom they have grown close behind the front in Champagne. Kat, who is illiterate, gets Paul to read him a letter from his wife and worries that he will be unable to reintegrate into peacetime society. Franz spends the night with a local French woman and brings back her scarf as a souvenir.

On November 9, Erzberger and the German delegation board a train bound for the Forest of Compiègne to negotiate a ceasefire. Paul and his friends go on a mission to find 60 missing recruits sent to reinforce their unit and discover that they were killed by gas after taking off their masks too soon. General Friedrichs, who opposes the armistice talks, orders an attack before French reinforcements arrive. That night, Erzberger’s delegation reaches the Forest of Compiègne, and Paul’s regiment is sent to the front to prepare to attack the French lines.

On November 10, Supreme Allied Commander Ferdinand Foch gives the Germans 72 hours to accept the non-negotiable Allied terms. Meanwhile, the German attack takes the French front line after hand-to-hand fighting but is routed by a combined arms counterattack, in which the French use Saint-Chamond tanks to overcome German defenses. Franz is separated from the group, and Albert dies trying to surrender when he is set on fire with a flamethrower. Trapped in a crater in no man’s land with a French soldier, Paul stabs him and watches him die slowly, becoming remorseful and asking for forgiveness from his dead body.

Erzberger learns of Kaiser Wilhelm II’s abdication and receives instructions from field marshal Paul von Hindenburg to accept the Allied terms. Paul returns to his unit and sees them celebrating the war’s imminent end. He finds a wounded Tjaden, who gives him Franz’s scarf, indicating Franz has been killed. Paul and Kat bring him food, but Tjaden, knowing that his injured leg will be amputated, chooses to fatally stab himself in the throat with the fork they brought him rather than live as an amputee.

On November 11, Erzberger’s delegation signs an armistice set to take effect at 11:00 AM. After learning of the ceasefire, Paul and Kat steal from the farm one last time, but Kat is shot by the farmer’s vengeful son and dies before arriving at an infirmary. General Friedrichs, who wants to end the war with at least a German victory out of spite, orders an attack to start at 10:45 AM. Paul kills as many French soldiers as he can before being bayonetted from behind, seconds before 11:00 AM. Paul stumbles out into the trenches and marvels at the end of conflict as he dies from his wound.

A short time later, a newly-arrived German recruit that Paul had saved in the combat finds Paul’s mud-caked body and picks up Franz’s scarf, but not the dog tag that acts as the identifier of dead soldiers. As a result, Paul’s death is not recorded.