One of the last lines of the book will chill you to the bone after watching... "He fell in October, 1918, on a day that was so quiet and still on the whole front, that the army report confined itself to the single sentence: All quiet on the Western Front."
Which is quite ironic. The English version is so much more chilling. The original book in German would be : He died in October 1918, on a day that was so calm and quiet all along the front that the army report was limited to the sentence that there was nothing new to report in the West. The Book was called : Im Westen nichts Neues (nothing new in the west) That’s a case where the translation actually made it better
@@tommcewan7936 The last sentence in German is Im Westen nichts neues zu verkünden as far as I an remember Hence the name of the book. Remarque is really a world treasure.
@@TBRSchmitt it is not only the fourth GERMAN movie in history to have WON the oscar for Best International Feature Film (previously Best Foreign Feature Length Film) (after The Tin Drum, Nowhere in Africa, The Lives of Others) but also i believe it is the highest decorated german movie and the german movie with the most oscar nominations too.
ALSO crazy to know that this was Felix Kammerer's (Pual) FIRST big movie and second movie overall! he had only done a random TV movie here in germany before starring in this masterpiece.
@@TBRSchmitt Another great anti war movie from the german perspective (in WW2) is the Movie called "Die Brücke" from 1959. If you get your hands on it, it is realy worth it. Same thing with "Stalingrad" from 1993 and "Unsere Mütter, unsere Väter" (Generation War) from 2013.
"Five hundred miles of Germans, five hundred miles of French, And Englishmen, Scots and Irishmen, all fighting for a trench. And when the trench is taken, and many thousands slain, The losers, with more slaughter, retake the trench again." - Anonymous WW1 soldier, 1917 In Passchendaele in Belgium the mud was so, so bad that it would suck you down like quicksand. In fact if you weren't on duckboards (wooden paths made to spread out weight) and you stepped off in the mud and didn't sink that means you were standing on someone's corpse.
The “synth” sound was actually a 100 year old harmonium (an instrument similar to an organ that was popular at the time) that was used along with the drums to feel like an attack. Such an interesting soundtrack and masterfully made film! Love you guys was so excited for this reaction I’m watching at midnight 😂❤
that’s crazy, I imagine a lot of post processing was applied but it’s funny seeing as the harmonium has jokingly been referred to as the mechanical synth
The reason the kids were so excited about joining the army halfway through the war was because there wasn't really proper media coverage about war back then, beyond a few lines in newspapers nobody knew what war looked like. For these boys it was a chance for adventure with their best friends, also peer pressure played a part, you wouldn't want to be the one friend who didn't join up and be left out. Survivors of the war would often experience survivor's guilt, they felt sad that they didn't die with their friends
That and also the enormous amount of propaganda, which people were completely unused to at the time and therefore weren't very well-equipped to see through it.
The scene where Paul kills the soldier in the ditch is one of the most harrowing sequences I've seen in a film in so long. That scene in particular, with its brutality and emotional devastation, brought me to tears in a way I didn't expect.
@@DAS_k1ishEe if this was a modern American film there would be some epilogue with an old guy in a graveyard so us the audience could walk out of the film feeling like it was all worth it
The dead body in the tree is realistic. I did research in a photo archive about World War 1, and there were photographs of corpses of men, and of horses, in the trees.
Yep. Back in 2014 when Russia first invaded Ukraine, Vice News had a guy doing daily reports there. They showed a body (probably Ukranian) who had been blown up onto a powerline. It was not a pretty sight.
@@juvandyyeah there are a lot of photos now coming from ukraine too of bodies in trees and on top of buildings, and some tree lines and forrests have now been turned to the trench landscapes in this movie like there was so many fires and artillery fire that entire forrests are gone and the landscape is permanently changed... btw France and Belgium still have a line where you can't grow crops bc there are so many chemicals in the ground from WW1 and so many grenades and artillery rounds, guns and bodies but WW2 littered europe also under bombs, bodies and basically anything that was used but contrary to WW1 those lands are still usable
I remember seeing a really similar photo In a ww2 book for kids in my school library it scarred me I seem to remember it said "german soldier hit by friendly fire from minenwerfer 42" ofc my brain could be making that up
World War I is possibly the most brutal war in history. It was essentially fought with 19th century tactics using 20th century technology and the results were horrifying. This is without a doubt the most deeply disturbing movie I've ever seen.
You are repeating a myth. Soldiers used skirmisher tactics. They spread out and advanced while covering each other. Soldiers were not grouped up into dense columns or lines and made to slowly advance to enemy positions and wait until the distance was about 80metres before opening fire. Linear tactics of the previous eras were not used. The problem was that commanders didn't have an answer to trench warfare. They tried many ways to break the deadlock. Long bombardments that often lasted days, weeks even, poison gas, tanks, aircraft, flamethrowers...
Ww2 would not have happened without ww1 one of the main reasons that Hitler was so popular amongst the Germans is because ww1 devastated Germany and the German people believed Hitler could help there country @@LucasEaFC1991
That scene here at 23:51 where the artillery shell didn't explode is actually historical accurate. The french managed to recover 40,000 unexploded artillery shells fired by their own artillery after the battle. I forget which specific battle it was but it happene
The title "All quiet on the western Front" always sends chills down my spine. If you know anything about WWI (Or have seen this film) you know the Western Front was anything but quiet. The title is a reference to German Propaganda during WWI. They would report all was quiet on the fron in Newspapers to prevent people from panicing and also enticing more men to enlist only to be sent into the meat grinder they had no idea existed.
What most people tend to forget about WW1. Most of these boys have never even seen a car before. Maybe a tractor, if they’re lucky. Most grew up on the countryside with barely any technology. Then they witness gas attacks, machine guns, artillery decimating their friends, planes, tanks, I mean the shock factor must’ve been insane.
In the book Remarque describes the scene with Paul and the French soldier in the bomb crater as going on for hours and hours in total (with Paul stabbing him right in the beginning and then being forced to stay there because of the fighting around). He has to witness the horrible consequences of what he has done from bright day to nightfall until it's safe for him to leave. He hears the French guy slowly fade away as the dying man gets quieter and quieter. I guess that's the intention of making this scene so long in the movie as well. Yeah, the general theme of Remarque's book was also that pointlessness, that nothingness of all the suffering, hence the title which is bit more on point in the German original (of the book and all movie adaptations): "Im Westen nichts Neues", which literally translates to "Nothing new..." or rather "Nothing to report in the West" (also meaning the Western front). I guess it was one director Edward Berger's hardest decisions to change the original ending and move it to after the truce (very much criticized) which makes the final day different also for that line to not make any sense anymore in its original context because the end of the war clearly would have been something to report. In the book Paul dies on a day at the front with hardly any fighting when everyone's being exhausted and waiting for the end. Paul gets shot merely by sort of a stray bullet. No meaning, no purpose. This gets pointed out even more because it's the very last line you read. After Paul's and everyone's pointless deaths the only content of that day's report of the German High Army Command was "Nothing to report in the West". Nothing significant happened, no one noticed. Paul does not exist anymore, no one cares.
Another thing i love about the older film was the fact that they actually used war veterans from ww1 to act in the movie, they even gave feedback on how to make the film more realistic.
This was my favorite movie of last year, I was stunned by everything. Some scenes were so jarring, and the lead actor was phenomonal. Shots, score, everything was beautiful
I have to recommend the 30s and 70s versions they're masterpieces in their own ways. It's saying something about the source material when there is no bad version of this story
Definitely going to avoid watching this remake. Hollywood turned it into another war/slasher film by the looks of it. The 30's version is by far the best. The 70's made for tv is good to, ain't no cgi in those battle scenes.
The part of this film that hits me the hardest is the black screen at the end where it gives you the statistics, this whole journey you’ve found yourself on is but 1 of the 17 million journeys that ended in that war
The music in this film is one that’s gonna stick with me for life. If I only heard it without seeing the movie, I’d think it was an action/ sci-fi score. And that ending is like a gut punch. Loved every moment of this movie
It's crazy watching the 1930 version (my preferred take, and one of my favorite films) keeping in mind that it was made almost a decade before World War II even started.
After watching this movie i read the war diaries from my great grandfather who was a german artillery officer in WW1. What a trip. As always a great reaction.
Doing war movies as a german is a pretty tough thing. Both world wars hit pretty different from a german perspective, we don't have (national) pride about it or veterans who can tell grand stories of liberating cities and doing the right thing. Even to this day WW2 soldiers and adjacents get prosecuted. In 2022 a 101 year old soldier got senteced to jail for serving in a concentration camp. Only 2 years before that a female secretary from one of the camps (96 years old) was on trial. I know these are WW2 examples and don't really belong in a WW1 movie and please don't get me wrong, I am not complaining that Nazis still get prosecuted to this day as soon as they are found, but these examples really help to understand how tough it is to make a war movie about germans and not just portraying them as monsters. While I personally found this movie to be very neutral and fair about the portrayal, it got a lot of critique by the press, not only because it diverted a lot from the book, but for "intentionally" leaving out scenes that painted the german soldiers in a bad light. Additionally critics complained that the "poor" german soldiers were too sympathetic and the french politicians got portrayed as evil and basically directly responsible for world war 2. (to be fair, the desperation of the german people thanks to the treaty of versailles were a huge part of why Hitler was able to sway the german people so easily) Even Pauls death got painted as antisemitic, because he got stabbed in the back. Don't ask me, that was the weirdest point in a long piece I've read from The Guardian, going back to a myth about how germany really lost WW1 due to the betrayal the jews and socialists. As said, its hard to make a war movie as a german, you have to jump through a lot of hoops and people will still try and find a way to connect you to some kind of nazi propaganda. But your conclusion in the end were pretty much spot on. A gut punch of a movie. There is no cheering, no happy ending, no hero in german war movies and that is a good thing.
So have to say, I prefer the 1930 version however, when I saw this was being made I had high hopes and it passed with flying colors. Overall incredible film, with incredible acting and sequences. Love your reactions, thanks for doing this one. :)
I think the 1930 version gave more to character development, especially in having Paul, as with the book, return home on leave. He berated his jingoistic teacher, felt his alienation from his mom, and found the know at all civilians out of touch and insufferable. But the 1930 cast, as good as they were, still came across like Americans of the period. This German film is a good addition.
I really appreciate the opening sequence, showing the grinding machine of war. I also really like this portrayal of Kat. Previous ones put him in an uncle role, but this one felt like a brother. To the main themes; this war was a pointless war in many aspects. This makes it even more important to remember the lives lost of the people caught in a fight between the rich over territory.
We had to read the original book from Erich Maria Remarque back in the German High School. It´s said that a lot of it is based on his experiences from WW1. There are a few changes from the original story, but they all serve to "demonstrate" how life was back then and how the end of ww1 laid the groundwork for ww2. In today´s retrospect we understand the politics behind it so much better, because classified documents have been released after 60+ years. For example that that little train wagon at Compiègne where the Germans signed the armistice with Marshall Foch. In WW2 the Nazis made sure to use the exact same wagon and let the French sign under the same circumstances to humiliate them. Starting the circle of hatred and violence all over again... If you look back on european history its basically conflict and war all over again. one time this one is on top, then the other and and it spins like a wheel... The final charge was an invention of this movie, to show how strong militarism was in Imperial Germany and with the Generals. And Matthias Erzberger (the role of Daniel Brühl) was also invented for this movie and is not part of the original story. He is seen today by historians as one of the founding fathers of the german republic. Sadly the was murdered in 1921 by a group of military extremists that fled the country and returned to Germany in 1933 where the nazis granted them "amnesty", because in their view the german military was "betrayed" by the politicians in ww1 and the brave soldiers were robbed of a victory (some dumb lies sadly die hard)... If you want to watch another movie like this one, give "Munich - The Edge of War" a try.
That is a fine statement, and I am pleased that the youth of Germany today are so much wiser. It is pleasing that films and works illustrating the mistakes of the past are taught to German children at an early age. Let us both hope and pray that these mistakes are never repeated again. My great grandfather served in WW1 for the 4th Battalion Territorial Regiment of The Kings Own Yorkshire Light Infantry (KOYLI), and was involved in many battles. He would never let WW1 be referred to as a war, because as he said wars are fought by civilised men with terms of engagement. Rather he called WW1 the most stupid mass slaughter of good fine men on both sides. As a young boy I knew many of the WW1 veterans as they came together every Sunday at the British Legion Club, and I would normally be taken along. I would hear the many viewpoints from men that actually fought in WW1, and what I can say is that there was a lot of respect for the German soldiers despite them being so called enemies. Did you know for example, that captured German soldiers at Passchendaele near Ypres in WW1 rather than sit doing nothing would have their helmets painted white or red and volunteer to work as stretcher bearers bringing in allied wounded men? My great grandfather told me. Good men, only put against ourselves by a senseless, stupid, wasteful, barbaric war. There were a good many things that my great grandfather disagreed with regarding the end of WW1. First he always thought that it had been a mistake not to march the entire allied armies into Germany. This was because later it was often stated that nobody had won the war and that the armistice was in effect a draw. Fact was that at the point of signing the armistice Germany was almost on her knees in terms of economic, industrial, and domestic strengths and was wholly unable to continue fighting the war. WW1 blockades had caused chaos, with a good majority of the German people almost starving due to food shortages, with people living on turnips. Political unrest and instability in the country was rife, and the Americans entry into the war was the final nail in the coffin. Yes, this might have been hard for the German people to accept, but in the longer term an allied occupation might have resulted in better stability and quelled the alternating balance between war and peace plus the rise of the Nazi Party with a leader who was fundamentally disgruntled about the outcome of WW1. Second, he thought that the Kaiser should not have been allowed to get off the hook so easily, and be accountable for the carnage and decimation that had been caused. Third, he thought that the terms of the Versailles Treaty had been too hard on Germany, and that Germany needed assistance from the allies to rebuild herself into a better society rather than a waring militaristic nation. Fourth, he asserted that the armistice was only a 20 year peace. He was out only by about 40 days. As for Remarque who wrote All Quiet on The Western Front, he fled Germany to the USA on the rise of the Nazi Party. Only Goebbels retained one copy of the film of the same title made in 1936 that won an Oscar for its performances. Remarque's sister, who did not manage to flee the country, was had up at a Nazi kangaroo court which sentenced her to death in her brothers absence.
I love the editing while the soldiers are starving and it cuts to the generals eating in the train. Even the colors change from cold to warm back to cold. Great movie. Saw it the night it came out on Netflix.
When they had the raw eggs, I was thinking "Here is our victory meal, dysentery!" Maaan this was a harsh, emotional gut punching combo attack of a movie, what fantastic acting, set work, everything was done tremendously well to make you feel the horror of this war from this perspective. Great video to watch with you two. Thanks for having this on to help everyone who would want to see this have some friendly company to get through all the soul wrenching cinema storytelling and action. Great video!
The reality of ww1 was truly horrific. My grandfather was a British infantry troop in ww1 never knew him but from story’s and pictures I have seen he was great man❤
I highly appreciate the fact you two were watching that movie in it´s motherlanguage! I think this can be a bit exhausting more or less for people who don´t speak german at all, even when subs are aviable. Greetings from germany, thank you very much for that reaction ❤ To answer to your statement when they were shooting with their rifles at the tanks that this is a waste of resources: not quite! The director of the german tank museum in Munster also made a reaction just for this scene. He said shooting at tanks in ww1 with a big amount of soldiers could actually irritating tank crews that much because of the many impacts and the noise resulting out of it that they fall back in some or even many cases. I mean inside of a tank at that time was like hell, it was dark, very noisy, hot because the engine wasn´t seperated from the tank crew and then we have many people inside the tanks - in many cases up to 18 men stuffed inside. So yeah this must have been very scary and effective to shoot at the tanks with many rifles, pistols, machine guns or whatever.
Glad you guys watched it subtitled and not dubbed. I know someone has probably said it already, but WWII a few decades later was partially the result of this treaty that the Germans signed, a lot of the German youth felt it was an insult to their country and were pissed off about it for a long time. One of those angry WWI vets was none other than Hitler himself, so you can see how he used that nationalistic anger and xenophobia to work up the German population a few decades later.
There have been 3 adaptations of All Quiet On The Western Front: The Oscar Winning Best Picture of 1930. The 1979 TV movie with Richard Thomas, Ernest Borgnine, and Donald Pleasance The Oscar Winning 2022 Adaptation.
Dan, you’re spot-on about being able to watch it without subtitles, and the story not losing its impact. One thing I’ve happened across over decades of habitual movie watching, is noticing that you can watch a really well made movie with the sound off, and still follow the story successfully. It’s the greatness of imagery and skillful editing.
My great grandfather was in WW1. He said never call it a war. Because a war is fought by civilised men with terms of engagement. Rather call this stupidity a carnage of men, a slaughter of good fine men, and such a damn waste. My great grandfather called the armistice a 20 year peace. He was out by about only 40 days. What you see here is hand to hand combat. My great grandfather did that too, and later suffered because of nightmares that had him waking up screaming twice a week. I remember this. Even living next door in a terraced house you could hear him. My great grandfather saw the face of a young German he bayonetted through the chest. For him the nightmare was real. Like he was still there. 'Death is not an adventure for those who stand face to face with it. Although they survived its bullets and shells, this was a generation of men lost to the war.' Erich Maria Remarque. And he knew because he had been there and witnessed WW1 first hand.
What I like most about this movie.The main character Pual isn't another generic action hero. The entire movie he's just a scared kid. You can see his confidence go up a little. But you can also still see he's beyond terrified.
Mu great grandpa who served and died for Germany during the battle Tannenberg at just the age of 17 made this movie connect more with me cause i have ancestors who went through this and died
I have 5 ancestral cousins and a great granduncle who were killed in WW1. Having read all the accounts such as the Battle of the Somme, Passchendale, Verdun, etc, and reading the battalion diaries this movie only scratches the surface of how horrific the Western Front was.
You should also add PATHS OF GLORY, another WWI film. Based on actual events and full of amazing follow shots in the trenches. And directed by Stanley Kubrick. Fun fact; Kubrick met his wife during the filming of PATHS OF GLORY.
During war furniture companies are incorporated into the military specifically to build coffins back in the old days. The plans are still there if things go crazy. I used to be a manager at a furniture manufacturing plant. It wouldn't have taken much to convert to wooden coffin production. They would be easier and faster to build than couches and chairs.
I really loved the original, but the remake was super underwhelming for me. From a technical aspect, it was great, but I wasn't as attached to any of the characters in the same way the 1930 film portrayed them. On top of that, the 2022 film cut my personal favorite scene of the whole story - the one where Paul goes back to his professor while on leave, and tells the teacher off for indoctrinating innocent children into a hellish nightmare.
@@TBRSchmitt I prefer the 1930 version because it’s more faithful to the novel and Paul’s character is better developed, not to mention he was portrayed by one of my favorite old Hollywood actors, Lew Ayres.
I have been waiting for you guys to get to this, you two are amongst my favourite reactors due to the maturity and intelligence you bring, this film isn't for everyone but i thought it was fantastic, gruelling, dirty, bloody and grim, just how a war film should be in my opinion. So glad you watched the original german language version too, the dubbed version loses a lot of the acting prowess and reduces the the intensity of the actors emotions in a lot of scenes.
Wow! Thanks for reacting to AQotWF! You pick such interesting films. I'm not always a big fan of war movies, but I have two in my top 10 favorites: GLORY (which y'all already watched) and CASUALTIES OF WAR, which I hope y'all will someday. Brian De Palma (UNTOUCHABLES, SCARFACE) directed it.
German here. I think the book is one of the best ever written, especially considering it was written by a veteran. When the highschoolers of germany had to read it, i was kinda envious consodering what i had to read during that age (at least in regard to certain books). I would very much recommend it!
The best war movie I have ever seen is "Die Brücke" 1957 by Bernhard Wicki. 7 students come to their hometown in the war after one day of training. *Genius
That's the difference between a European made production and a Hollywood war movie. There is no gloryfing of one of the two fighting parties in this case the french and germans. There is no hero who's gonna make you feel good at the end because there isn't in war. It's real story telling and the music is phenomenal, it goes thru your bones.
Thanks for another great reaction. Another German film available with subtitles is Goodbye Lenin, with a younger Daniel Bruhl. It's a comedy drama set at the time of the fall of the Berlin Wall featuring a family in the East and their reaction to Germany becoming one country again.
The music notes that you perhaps didnt like sounded like an industial machine, and WW1 was literally a human meat grinder, churning millions of young men into nothing
There were many memorable scenes in this movie, from the time when he mortally wounds and then tries to save the French soldier, the first battle, the end,…- yet the scene which is the most burned into my mind, is the moment when the school kids are whipped into a frenzy by their teachers. Although I knew that soldiers and war at the time were portrait as heroes and a chance to return in glory, I still was shocked by the intensity of mad joyous frenzy and cheerful optimism the teachers infused into these poor boys.
Sad to think their deaths were possibly better than surviving that horror every moment of their lives. Especially being so young. Such a tragedy. Love the channel ✌️💜
Based on your comment of liking how a lot of the shots were from behind someone, seeing almost from their perspective, I highly recommend "Son of Saul." A Hungarian film set during the Holocaust.
Such a good anti-war film ,young boys/men so "gung ho" for adventure, so proud to fight for their country and then the reality of the trenches, slaughter ,blood bombs bullets bayonets ,it hits hard, especially the scene with Paul and the French soldier he stabbed in the trench or the pointless final charge , a horrifyingly beautiful film that stays with you long after seeing it.
Fun fact about the tank assault: Those tanks aren't particularly well shielded so small arms fire is actually quite effective compared to using it against modern tanks. The armor is pretty thin and rifle bullets would occasionally penetrate and kill or injure one of the crew. Also the noise inside the tank from all the bullets pinging off was so unbearable especially more inexperienced crews would sometimes panic or at least be much less effective. Tough to communicate with the rest of the crew with all that noise.
They would also fire against These tanks were not very sophisticated. Either you open a hatch and look where you're going, or you are driving blindly. Soldiers would aim for those hatches and vision slits, hoping to shoot through them or at least make it harder for the tank men to see what they were doing.
A couple other WW1 suggestions... Paths Of Glory starring Kirk Douglas... directed by Stanley Kubrick Galipolli co-starring Mel Gibson... directed by Peter Weir
Also throwing in a recommendation for Come and See - it's a WW2 movie, not WW1, but I think it's way more memorable and devastating than the 2022 All Quiet
That is a pretty accurate depiction of how French leadership acted at the end of the war. Nobody will every convince me that WWII in Europe wasn't as much the French's fault as it was the Germans. Because let's face it, not Treaty of Versailles, no ruining the German economy, no extremism taking over Germany.
22:20 even by this point in the war, tanks had still not been invented and used on the battlefield, the first lot of tanks used were by the allies which is why these germans look so surprised when they see one, therefore not knowing it’s capabilities and how to take one down
Take a look at how the British handled this subject with satire - Blackadder Goes Forth. It's the Dr. Strangelove of WWI. Forty years old now and the ending of that series is something to see.
I still think the 1930 version was better and closer to the novel. When Paul goes home on leave to see how bad it was there and confronts his teacher for sending kids to their end.
The scene with Paul stabbing the French soldier was the most impactful and iconic moment in the book. In the book, it was far more heartbreaking and much longer than the movie depicts. Paul becomes trapped in that shell hole for two days and a night with the dying Frenchman. Just hours of listening to the gurgling and moaning. Several occasions he contemplated putting him out of his misery, but each time he’s turned away by the overwhelming guilt and seeing how scared and helpless his dying enemy was. Knowing full well that this man’s agonizing death was on his hands and that there was nothing he could do to save him or ease his pain. It wasn’t until the second day, the Frenchman finally died and Paul spent the entire day crying over his corpse, begging for forgiveness, and promising to write to his family to provide the closure of their husband/father. When the 2nd night came, Paul took the opportunity to sneak out of the shellhole and crawl back to his own lines. But he was never the same again.
16:00 You'd be surprised how far and how high a body and body parts can fly when explosive rounds drop in. Videos coming out of Ukraine can provide proof of that. The actor playing the German negotiator .. also played Zemo in the MCU and Zoller in Iglourious Basterds.
A novel I'd recommend as a companion to All Quiet On The Western Front is "Storm of Steel" by Ernst Jünger. His book is often seen as some kind of counterpoint to All Quiet and it's supposedly anti-war message, but it's worth noting that Erich Remarque never stated that All Quiet was anti-war, merely that it's a veteran's account of his experience in the First World War. "Steel" is the same, taken almost directly from Jünger's war time diary, and it is a haunting read, full of the gore, loss, and horror, but much glory and humanity too. On another note, I loved this movie quite a bit but I think I will always love the original 1930 version more. Thank you so much for watching such a great film.
In ww1 tanks had a problem that metal on the in side of the tanks would fly at the crew inside if they were shot right so shooting them would have done something properly if the crew didn't have on those metal face mask things
In the beginning scene in the bunker, they are describing a "creeping barrage" This was a tactic where the attacker hit the opposing side with a massive barrage from dozens or hundreds of guns, (this is why they are hiding in the bunker) then they would incrementally hit ground closer and closer to the enemy lines, as the attacking infantry advances behind the explosions. Only at the last minute, the guns would stop. This is why they are in such hurry to get out of the bunker: they know that when the shelling stops, the enemy will be just yards away with grenades and flamethrowers ready to storm their trenches.
I'm glad they went in a totally different direction because on first viewing, you have no idea where its going. The title even works when you think about it as its all quiet on the western front when the movie ends.
There is a WW1 memorial in our village in Germany. 3 members of our family died in WW1 including a woman who was probably a nurse. My great-grandfather on the German side survived but never recovered fully from the war and died when my grandpa was just a small boy.
I really love how even the title of the movie has weight in it and history too. The title of the book/movie was taken from a German newspaper article during that time. Where the paper was celebrating the fact that the German and Austro-Hungarian Empire has defeated the armies of the Russian empire on the Eastern front. How the Russian army was in full retreat, their soldiers were deserting, there was talk of the Russian emperor Nikola II abdicating from the throne because of political upheaval in Sankt Petersburg. The article after all that glorious victory talk then ends the article with "All quiet on the Western front", because things were not going well for the Kaisers army in that theather of war, as the book/movie shows. Since they didn't want to tell the people about how bad it was, they just obfuscated the truth by saying since there was no major breakthrough from both sides that everything was fine. They couldn't tell the German public that their once great army was barely holding it together.
This film release has perfect timing to help us appreciate the consequences of the mistakes on the part of leadership. Specifcally thinking about the western front German Colonel, we can see some folks who share many similarities in our "modern" world.
Very great and emotional reaction the 30s version i saw when I was at school we had to do a essay on it . If you want a completely different film to cheer you up I think Samantha would like the film called Baby's day out with Joe Pesci.
During this year Oscar ceremony the Academy finally achieve the body of work of german film industry, who was so often dismissed and ignored by Hollywood - in different ways. Das Boot for example six times nominated and no single Oscar or Fitzcarraldo from Werner Herzog or at least Downfall with no nomination for Bruno Ganz terrific actors performance of Adolf Hitler and now this is the biggest success ever in history and collect more Oscars then the entire german film ever in history - but a wise said everything in life balances out at some point 😉
Since declassifying WWII documents and information, Germany has put out some great war films, namely “Downfall” and “Sophie Scholl: The Final Days”. Different war, but similar themes of disillusionment, anti-war sentiment, delusion, etc. Highly recommend both!
My great grandfather was Irish and fought in one of these old wars, probably one of the Boer Wars, the only picture we have of him is family group shot where he's in a wheelchair due to wounds he took in battle apparently, the man feels a mystery to me, the stories of the survivors get lost, the stories of the dead barely get told before they are cut short and then mostly forgotten, the days of remembrance to acknowledge them all is all we got left in most cases, but movies like this just do the job also, they make you think about it and how tragic it was.
The narrative at home in Germany was a far cry from the factual reality of the trenches on the front line. The Germans were sold every day on the lie that the war was going well, and in fact, they were oh so close to victory each day, needing just a little more to make it a reality. It kept morale at home high, and young soldiers enlisted in droves. The truth however was, the lines had barely moved since the war began years prior. Battalions would be lost marching across no man's land in order to take 20 or so yards of ground, only to lose it the next day. Thus it came as a shock to the German people to so suddenly and abruptly be informed that they'd lost the war. Rather than own up to the fact the government and military had been stringing them along for so many years, however, they quickly found scapegoats to blame their sudden "unforeseeable" defeat on. The Jews were a prime target in this. There were already strong seeds of antisemitism within the country, but the defeat of the Germans made it much more rampant, and helped pave the way for a certain dictator some years later. The book for this film was banned in Germany for years as it is clearly an aversion towards war and what happened in the Great War especially. Worldwide it won countless awards and accolades for its depictions.
"The fat pigs don't carry gas" - soldiers love to give nicknames to things. He's been at the front so long he's learned to tell what kind of artillery shell is incoming by the sound it makes, and knows the big, heavy shells, "fat pigs," are never gas shells.
My favourite war. Not favourite, but you get what Im saying. The day when fighting for honour, glory, and duty died. As someone said, paraphrased, "theres no honour in dying from a shell shot by a guy over a hill who couldn't even see your face"
One of the last lines of the book will chill you to the bone after watching...
"He fell in October, 1918, on a day that was so quiet and still on the whole front, that the army report confined itself to the single sentence: All quiet on the Western Front."
I literally have the last page of the book saved on my phone. It's so gripping.
Which is quite ironic. The English version is so much more chilling. The original book in German would be : He died in October 1918, on a day that was so calm and quiet all along the front that the army report was limited to the sentence that there was nothing new to report in the West.
The Book was called : Im Westen nichts Neues (nothing new in the west)
That’s a case where the translation actually made it better
@@mondexponent2126 more chilling yes, but the authenticity is in the German version
@@GamingEntertainment12 absolutely. Sheer, depressed resignation.
@@tommcewan7936
The last sentence in German is
Im Westen nichts neues zu verkünden
as far as I an remember
Hence the name of the book.
Remarque is really a world treasure.
Nominated for 9 Oscars including Best Picture, but won for
Best International Feature
Best Production Design
Best Original Score
Best Cinematography.
That’s a lot of wins!
@@TBRSchmitt it is not only the fourth GERMAN movie in history to have WON the oscar for Best International Feature Film (previously Best Foreign Feature Length Film) (after The Tin Drum, Nowhere in Africa, The Lives of Others) but also i believe it is the highest decorated german movie and the german movie with the most oscar nominations too.
The score made this film! So good!
ALSO crazy to know that this was Felix Kammerer's (Pual) FIRST big movie and second movie overall! he had only done a random TV movie here in germany before starring in this masterpiece.
@@TBRSchmitt Another great anti war movie from the german perspective (in WW2) is the Movie called "Die Brücke" from 1959.
If you get your hands on it, it is realy worth it.
Same thing with "Stalingrad" from 1993 and "Unsere Mütter, unsere Väter" (Generation War) from 2013.
"Five hundred miles of Germans, five hundred miles of French,
And Englishmen, Scots and Irishmen, all fighting for a trench.
And when the trench is taken, and many thousands slain,
The losers, with more slaughter, retake the trench again."
- Anonymous WW1 soldier, 1917
In Passchendaele in Belgium the mud was so, so bad that it would suck you down like quicksand. In fact if you weren't on duckboards (wooden paths made to spread out weight) and you stepped off in the mud and didn't sink that means you were standing on someone's corpse.
The “synth” sound was actually a 100 year old harmonium (an instrument similar to an organ that was popular at the time) that was used along with the drums to feel like an attack. Such an interesting soundtrack and masterfully made film! Love you guys was so excited for this reaction I’m watching at midnight 😂❤
So much deserved the Oscar
that’s crazy, I imagine a lot of post processing was applied but it’s funny seeing as the harmonium has jokingly been referred to as the mechanical synth
The reason the kids were so excited about joining the army halfway through the war was because there wasn't really proper media coverage about war back then, beyond a few lines in newspapers nobody knew what war looked like.
For these boys it was a chance for adventure with their best friends, also peer pressure played a part, you wouldn't want to be the one friend who didn't join up and be left out.
Survivors of the war would often experience survivor's guilt, they felt sad that they didn't die with their friends
Damn..
That and also the enormous amount of propaganda, which people were completely unused to at the time and therefore weren't very well-equipped to see through it.
It's like Shelby Foote said about Pickett's Charge at the Battle of Gettysburg: "It really would have taken more courage not to go than to go".
The scene where Paul kills the soldier in the ditch is one of the most harrowing sequences I've seen in a film in so long. That scene in particular, with its brutality and emotional devastation, brought me to tears in a way I didn't expect.
...and then Paul losing the letter and not surviving the war. There is no quest, there is no purpose or meaning. Just death.
Read the book, it is excellent and is quite different from the film.
@@DAS_k1ishEe if this was a modern American film there would be some epilogue with an old guy in a graveyard so us the audience could walk out of the film feeling like it was all worth it
@@antonego9581 Ahh, but this is a German war film. Everybody MUST die.
i agree
The dead body in the tree is realistic. I did research in a photo archive about World War 1, and there were photographs of corpses of men, and of horses, in the trees.
Yep. Back in 2014 when Russia first invaded Ukraine, Vice News had a guy doing daily reports there. They showed a body (probably Ukranian) who had been blown up onto a powerline. It was not a pretty sight.
@@juvandyyeah there are a lot of photos now coming from ukraine too of bodies in trees and on top of buildings, and some tree lines and forrests have now been turned to the trench landscapes in this movie like there was so many fires and artillery fire that entire forrests are gone and the landscape is permanently changed... btw France and Belgium still have a line where you can't grow crops bc there are so many chemicals in the ground from WW1 and so many grenades and artillery rounds, guns and bodies but WW2 littered europe also under bombs, bodies and basically anything that was used but contrary to WW1 those lands are still usable
IIRC They also still find tunnels filled with explosives occasionally. @@henkschrader4513
Artillery is hell of a thing
I remember seeing a really similar photo In a ww2 book for kids in my school library it scarred me I seem to remember it said "german soldier hit by friendly fire from minenwerfer 42" ofc my brain could be making that up
World War I is possibly the most brutal war in history. It was essentially fought with 19th century tactics using 20th century technology and the results were horrifying. This is without a doubt the most deeply disturbing movie I've ever seen.
No
Ww2 is more bro
You are repeating a myth. Soldiers used skirmisher tactics. They spread out and advanced while covering each other. Soldiers were not grouped up into dense columns or lines and made to slowly advance to enemy positions and wait until the distance was about 80metres before opening fire. Linear tactics of the previous eras were not used. The problem was that commanders didn't have an answer to trench warfare. They tried many ways to break the deadlock. Long bombardments that often lasted days, weeks even, poison gas, tanks, aircraft, flamethrowers...
Ww2 would not have happened without ww1 one of the main reasons that Hitler was so popular amongst the Germans is because ww1 devastated Germany and the German people believed Hitler could help there country @@LucasEaFC1991
@@LucasEaFC1991 More casualties yes, because of the advanced technology, but the war alone for soldiers, WW1 is more horrific
That scene here at 23:51 where the artillery shell didn't explode is actually historical accurate. The french managed to recover 40,000 unexploded artillery shells fired by their own artillery after the battle. I forget which specific battle it was but it happene
Emotional damage incoming
Definitely…
@CallmekylieYes I agree, tragedy in irony.
@TBRSchmitt If you like "Train to Busan", than you should see "Okay! Madam"
I cannot distinct these war movies 🎥 apart!
@Anakinskywalkerfan1It's just like Star Wars
The title "All quiet on the western Front" always sends chills down my spine. If you know anything about WWI (Or have seen this film) you know the Western Front was anything but quiet. The title is a reference to German Propaganda during WWI. They would report all was quiet on the fron in Newspapers to prevent people from panicing and also enticing more men to enlist only to be sent into the meat grinder they had no idea existed.
In my native language of french (Pretty sure in german too), it’s « On the west, nothing new », hits hard
The title is related to the last sentence in the book......
What most people tend to forget about WW1. Most of these boys have never even seen a car before. Maybe a tractor, if they’re lucky. Most grew up on the countryside with barely any technology. Then they witness gas attacks, machine guns, artillery decimating their friends, planes, tanks, I mean the shock factor must’ve been insane.
Very good observation. Which could explain the shell shock symptoms which are very different from the PTSD soldiers have in modern times.
One of the best anti-war movies ever made. Thank you for your reaction 🌹
Right after "Come and see"
In the book Remarque describes the scene with Paul and the French soldier in the bomb crater as going on for hours and hours in total (with Paul stabbing him right in the beginning and then being forced to stay there because of the fighting around). He has to witness the horrible consequences of what he has done from bright day to nightfall until it's safe for him to leave. He hears the French guy slowly fade away as the dying man gets quieter and quieter. I guess that's the intention of making this scene so long in the movie as well.
Yeah, the general theme of Remarque's book was also that pointlessness, that nothingness of all the suffering, hence the title which is bit more on point in the German original (of the book and all movie adaptations): "Im Westen nichts Neues", which literally translates to "Nothing new..." or rather "Nothing to report in the West" (also meaning the Western front). I guess it was one director Edward Berger's hardest decisions to change the original ending and move it to after the truce (very much criticized) which makes the final day different also for that line to not make any sense anymore in its original context because the end of the war clearly would have been something to report. In the book Paul dies on a day at the front with hardly any fighting when everyone's being exhausted and waiting for the end. Paul gets shot merely by sort of a stray bullet. No meaning, no purpose. This gets pointed out even more because it's the very last line you read. After Paul's and everyone's pointless deaths the only content of that day's report of the German High Army Command was "Nothing to report in the West". Nothing significant happened, no one noticed. Paul does not exist anymore, no one cares.
Another thing i love about the older film was the fact that they actually used war veterans from ww1 to act in the movie, they even gave feedback on how to make the film more realistic.
The musical score is actually my favorite part of this film. I loved the uniqueness.
The cinematography and the sound design are top notch. Those eerie 3 notes give me chills
This was my favorite movie of last year, I was stunned by everything. Some scenes were so jarring, and the lead actor was phenomonal. Shots, score, everything was beautiful
That was the greatest "anti war" movie I've ever seen. It shows the cruelty and uselessness of war masterfully. Excellent film!
Or shows the brainwashing / modern slavery of troops in ww1 especially. And how this was only 100 years ago
I have to recommend the 30s and 70s versions they're masterpieces in their own ways. It's saying something about the source material when there is no bad version of this story
The 70s version is inferior, it looks too much like a TV production, and the actors and storytelling don't reach the level of the first movie.
I watch the 70s version first and I really liked it. It's free on UA-cam movies right now.
Definitely going to avoid watching this remake. Hollywood turned it into another war/slasher film by the looks of it.
The 30's version is by far the best. The 70's made for tv is good to, ain't no cgi in those battle scenes.
@@banzi403in this movie they also barely used CGI all the explosions where actual explosions wich is crazy to think about
@@henkschrader4513 that really doesn't change my mind about the film. Still sounds like hollywood turned it in to a slasher film.
The part of this film that hits me the hardest is the black screen at the end where it gives you the statistics, this whole journey you’ve found yourself on is but 1 of the 17 million journeys that ended in that war
I also highly recommend the 1930 version. So good.
The 1930 version is my favorite. It is closer to the novel. It was the original anti war movie.
everyone learn from this movie whats this phatom pain.
The music in this film is one that’s gonna stick with me for life. If I only heard it without seeing the movie, I’d think it was an action/ sci-fi score. And that ending is like a gut punch. Loved every moment of this movie
Music definitely gives a sci-fi vibe!
Like Tenet and Interstellar, I couldn't get it out of my mind.🙃
Great reaction video TBRSchmitt and Sam this movie will stay with you after you watch it and the music is great
the music was brill, loved it
this one is so much worse than the movie from the 1930s. But yes, it is better than the one from the 1970s
It's crazy watching the 1930 version (my preferred take, and one of my favorite films) keeping in mind that it was made almost a decade before World War II even started.
For sure. And sadly people will think that this movie from 2022 was the first one... The British tv version was great as well.
After watching this movie i read the war diaries from my great grandfather who was a german artillery officer in WW1. What a trip. As always a great reaction.
Those should be published!
Doing war movies as a german is a pretty tough thing. Both world wars hit pretty different from a german perspective, we don't have (national) pride about it or veterans who can tell grand stories of liberating cities and doing the right thing.
Even to this day WW2 soldiers and adjacents get prosecuted.
In 2022 a 101 year old soldier got senteced to jail for serving in a concentration camp.
Only 2 years before that a female secretary from one of the camps (96 years old) was on trial.
I know these are WW2 examples and don't really belong in a WW1 movie and please don't get me wrong, I am not complaining that Nazis still get prosecuted to this day as soon as they are found, but these examples really help to understand how tough it is to make a war movie about germans and not just portraying them as monsters.
While I personally found this movie to be very neutral and fair about the portrayal, it got a lot of critique by the press, not only because it diverted a lot from the book, but for "intentionally" leaving out scenes that painted the german soldiers in a bad light.
Additionally critics complained that the "poor" german soldiers were too sympathetic and the french politicians got portrayed as evil and basically directly responsible for world war 2. (to be fair, the desperation of the german people thanks to the treaty of versailles were a huge part of why Hitler was able to sway the german people so easily)
Even Pauls death got painted as antisemitic, because he got stabbed in the back. Don't ask me, that was the weirdest point in a long piece I've read from The Guardian, going back to a myth about how germany really lost WW1 due to the betrayal the jews and socialists.
As said, its hard to make a war movie as a german, you have to jump through a lot of hoops and people will still try and find a way to connect you to some kind of nazi propaganda.
But your conclusion in the end were pretty much spot on.
A gut punch of a movie.
There is no cheering, no happy ending, no hero in german war movies and that is a good thing.
So have to say, I prefer the 1930 version however, when I saw this was being made I had high hopes and it passed with flying colors. Overall incredible film, with incredible acting and sequences. Love your reactions, thanks for doing this one. :)
I think the 1930 version gave more to character development, especially in having Paul, as with the book, return home on leave. He berated his jingoistic teacher, felt his alienation from his mom, and found the know at all civilians out of touch and insufferable. But the 1930 cast, as good as they were, still came across like Americans of the period. This German film is a good addition.
@@Hume77 Also to think that the movie came out just a decade after the real events is just mind blowing and add coolness to it all.
I liked the 1970 one and apparently it's the worst but I think it does the french soldier scene the best
Great reaction as always.
Is it strange that I always press the like button even before I watch your reaction, knowing I won’t be disappointed.
I really appreciate the opening sequence, showing the grinding machine of war. I also really like this portrayal of Kat. Previous ones put him in an uncle role, but this one felt like a brother. To the main themes; this war was a pointless war in many aspects. This makes it even more important to remember the lives lost of the people caught in a fight between the rich over territory.
We had to read the original book from Erich Maria Remarque back in the German High School. It´s said that a lot of it is based on his experiences from WW1. There are a few changes from the original story, but they all serve to "demonstrate" how life was back then and how the end of ww1 laid the groundwork for ww2. In today´s retrospect we understand the politics behind it so much better, because classified documents have been released after 60+ years. For example that that little train wagon at Compiègne where the Germans signed the armistice with Marshall Foch. In WW2 the Nazis made sure to use the exact same wagon and let the French sign under the same circumstances to humiliate them. Starting the circle of hatred and violence all over again... If you look back on european history its basically conflict and war all over again. one time this one is on top, then the other and and it spins like a wheel... The final charge was an invention of this movie, to show how strong militarism was in Imperial Germany and with the Generals. And Matthias Erzberger (the role of Daniel Brühl) was also invented for this movie and is not part of the original story. He is seen today by historians as one of the founding fathers of the german republic. Sadly the was murdered in 1921 by a group of military extremists that fled the country and returned to Germany in 1933 where the nazis granted them "amnesty", because in their view the german military was "betrayed" by the politicians in ww1 and the brave soldiers were robbed of a victory (some dumb lies sadly die hard)... If you want to watch another movie like this one, give "Munich - The Edge of War" a try.
That is a fine statement, and I am pleased that the youth of Germany today are so much wiser. It is pleasing that films and works illustrating the mistakes of the past are taught to German children at an early age. Let us both hope and pray that these mistakes are never repeated again.
My great grandfather served in WW1 for the 4th Battalion Territorial Regiment of The Kings Own Yorkshire Light Infantry (KOYLI), and was involved in many battles. He would never let WW1 be referred to as a war, because as he said wars are fought by civilised men with terms of engagement. Rather he called WW1 the most stupid mass slaughter of good fine men on both sides. As a young boy I knew many of the WW1 veterans as they came together every Sunday at the British Legion Club, and I would normally be taken along. I would hear the many viewpoints from men that actually fought in WW1, and what I can say is that there was a lot of respect for the German soldiers despite them being so called enemies. Did you know for example, that captured German soldiers at Passchendaele near Ypres in WW1 rather than sit doing nothing would have their helmets painted white or red and volunteer to work as stretcher bearers bringing in allied wounded men? My great grandfather told me. Good men, only put against ourselves by a senseless, stupid, wasteful, barbaric war.
There were a good many things that my great grandfather disagreed with regarding the end of WW1. First he always thought that it had been a mistake not to march the entire allied armies into Germany. This was because later it was often stated that nobody had won the war and that the armistice was in effect a draw. Fact was that at the point of signing the armistice Germany was almost on her knees in terms of economic, industrial, and domestic strengths and was wholly unable to continue fighting the war. WW1 blockades had caused chaos, with a good majority of the German people almost starving due to food shortages, with people living on turnips. Political unrest and instability in the country was rife, and the Americans entry into the war was the final nail in the coffin. Yes, this might have been hard for the German people to accept, but in the longer term an allied occupation might have resulted in better stability and quelled the alternating balance between war and peace plus the rise of the Nazi Party with a leader who was fundamentally disgruntled about the outcome of WW1. Second, he thought that the Kaiser should not have been allowed to get off the hook so easily, and be accountable for the carnage and decimation that had been caused. Third, he thought that the terms of the Versailles Treaty had been too hard on Germany, and that Germany needed assistance from the allies to rebuild herself into a better society rather than a waring militaristic nation. Fourth, he asserted that the armistice was only a 20 year peace. He was out only by about 40 days.
As for Remarque who wrote All Quiet on The Western Front, he fled Germany to the USA on the rise of the Nazi Party. Only Goebbels retained one copy of the film of the same title made in 1936 that won an Oscar for its performances. Remarque's sister, who did not manage to flee the country, was had up at a Nazi kangaroo court which sentenced her to death in her brothers absence.
Storm of steel is better as it's written by a soldier who participated in the war for longer.
I love the editing while the soldiers are starving and it cuts to the generals eating in the train. Even the colors change from cold to warm back to cold. Great movie. Saw it the night it came out on Netflix.
When they had the raw eggs, I was thinking "Here is our victory meal, dysentery!"
Maaan this was a harsh, emotional gut punching combo attack of a movie, what fantastic acting, set work, everything was done tremendously well to make you feel the horror of this war from this perspective.
Great video to watch with you two. Thanks for having this on to help everyone who would want to see this have some friendly company to get through all the soul wrenching cinema storytelling and action.
Great video!
The 1930 film version is a more faithful adaptation of the book, and is worth a watch.
The music, that main theme, isn't a synth. It comes from a Harmonium, which is an instrument from that time in the video.
The reality of ww1 was truly horrific. My grandfather was a British infantry troop in ww1 never knew him but from story’s and pictures I have seen he was great man❤
I highly appreciate the fact you two were watching that movie in it´s motherlanguage! I think this can be a bit exhausting more or less for people who don´t speak german at all, even when subs are aviable. Greetings from germany, thank you very much for that reaction ❤
To answer to your statement when they were shooting with their rifles at the tanks that this is a waste of resources: not quite! The director of the german tank museum in Munster also made a reaction just for this scene. He said shooting at tanks in ww1 with a big amount of soldiers could actually irritating tank crews that much because of the many impacts and the noise resulting out of it that they fall back in some or even many cases. I mean inside of a tank at that time was like hell, it was dark, very noisy, hot because the engine wasn´t seperated from the tank crew and then we have many people inside the tanks - in many cases up to 18 men stuffed inside. So yeah this must have been very scary and effective to shoot at the tanks with many rifles, pistols, machine guns or whatever.
If you watch a "foreign" movie with a dubbing, you have reserved a special place in hell.
Glad you guys watched it subtitled and not dubbed. I know someone has probably said it already, but WWII a few decades later was partially the result of this treaty that the Germans signed, a lot of the German youth felt it was an insult to their country and were pissed off about it for a long time. One of those angry WWI vets was none other than Hitler himself, so you can see how he used that nationalistic anger and xenophobia to work up the German population a few decades later.
There have been 3 adaptations of All Quiet On The Western Front:
The Oscar Winning Best Picture of 1930.
The 1979 TV movie with Richard Thomas, Ernest Borgnine, and Donald Pleasance
The Oscar Winning 2022 Adaptation.
Seems like Oscar gold!
I remember the 1979 version
Also, but I kind prefer the finally of that one. Don't know if it is more faithful to the book or this one is. @@utcnc7mm
Dan, you’re spot-on about being able to watch it without subtitles, and the story not losing its impact. One thing I’ve happened across over decades of habitual movie watching, is noticing that you can watch a really well made movie with the sound off, and still follow the story successfully. It’s the greatness of imagery and skillful editing.
My great grandfather was in WW1. He said never call it a war. Because a war is fought by civilised men with terms of engagement. Rather call this stupidity a carnage of men, a slaughter of good fine men, and such a damn waste. My great grandfather called the armistice a 20 year peace. He was out by about only 40 days.
What you see here is hand to hand combat. My great grandfather did that too, and later suffered because of nightmares that had him waking up screaming twice a week. I remember this. Even living next door in a terraced house you could hear him. My great grandfather saw the face of a young German he bayonetted through the chest. For him the nightmare was real. Like he was still there.
'Death is not an adventure for those who stand face to face with it. Although they survived its bullets and shells, this was a generation of men lost to the war.' Erich Maria Remarque. And he knew because he had been there and witnessed WW1 first hand.
Thank you for watching it on the original language. It makes the movie so much better.
deutsch ist alt die beste Sprache und ich brauche keine Untertitel lesen, sondern kann mich auf den Film konzentrieren 😁😁
What I like most about this movie.The main character Pual isn't another generic action hero. The entire movie he's just a scared kid. You can see his confidence go up a little. But you can also still see he's beyond terrified.
Mu great grandpa who served and died for Germany during the battle Tannenberg at just the age of 17 made this movie connect more with me cause i have ancestors who went through this and died
I have 5 ancestral cousins and a great granduncle who were killed in WW1. Having read all the accounts such as the Battle of the Somme, Passchendale, Verdun, etc, and reading the battalion diaries this movie only scratches the surface of how horrific the Western Front was.
You should also add PATHS OF GLORY, another WWI film. Based on actual events and full of amazing follow shots in the trenches. And directed by Stanley Kubrick. Fun fact; Kubrick met his wife during the filming of PATHS OF GLORY.
During war furniture companies are incorporated into the military specifically to build coffins back in the old days.
The plans are still there if things go crazy. I used to be a manager at a furniture manufacturing plant.
It wouldn't have taken much to convert to wooden coffin production.
They would be easier and faster to build than couches and chairs.
You NEED to read the book! Short, direct, eye opening, haunting…
Marshall Foch said this isn’t a peace treaty, just a cease fire to last 20 years. He was spot on, the treaty of Versailles was so humiliating !
Hope you two are having an great and awesome weekend ❤
Thank you! Same to you!
I remember seeing the 1930 version of All Quiet on the Western Front in college. Interesting film.
Which version do you prefer!?
I really loved the original, but the remake was super underwhelming for me. From a technical aspect, it was great, but I wasn't as attached to any of the characters in the same way the 1930 film portrayed them.
On top of that, the 2022 film cut my personal favorite scene of the whole story - the one where Paul goes back to his professor while on leave, and tells the teacher off for indoctrinating innocent children into a hellish nightmare.
@TBRSchmitt I love the original. Also, check out the 1979 version as well.
with John boy Walton! @@stsolomon618
@@TBRSchmitt I prefer the 1930 version because it’s more faithful to the novel and Paul’s character is better developed, not to mention he was portrayed by one of my favorite old Hollywood actors, Lew Ayres.
I have been waiting for you guys to get to this, you two are amongst my favourite reactors due to the maturity and intelligence you bring, this film isn't for everyone but i thought it was fantastic, gruelling, dirty, bloody and grim, just how a war film should be in my opinion. So glad you watched the original german language version too, the dubbed version loses a lot of the acting prowess and reduces the the intensity of the actors emotions in a lot of scenes.
Wow! Thanks for reacting to AQotWF! You pick such interesting films. I'm not always a big fan of war movies, but I have two in my top 10 favorites: GLORY (which y'all already watched) and CASUALTIES OF WAR, which I hope y'all will someday. Brian De Palma (UNTOUCHABLES, SCARFACE) directed it.
German here. I think the book is one of the best ever written, especially considering it was written by a veteran. When the highschoolers of germany had to read it, i was kinda envious consodering what i had to read during that age (at least in regard to certain books). I would very much recommend it!
Rarely do I take a break from a movie. I had to come back the next night after the tank scene.
The best war movie I have ever seen is "Die Brücke" 1957 by Bernhard Wicki.
7 students come to their hometown in the war after one day of training.
*Genius
That's the difference between a European made production and a Hollywood war movie. There is no gloryfing of one of the two fighting parties in this case the french and germans. There is no hero who's gonna make you feel good at the end because there isn't in war. It's real story telling and the music is phenomenal, it goes thru your bones.
Thanks for another great reaction. Another German film available with subtitles is Goodbye Lenin, with a younger Daniel Bruhl. It's a comedy drama set at the time of the fall of the Berlin Wall featuring a family in the East and their reaction to Germany becoming one country again.
The music notes that you perhaps didnt like sounded like an industial machine, and WW1 was literally a human meat grinder, churning millions of young men into nothing
There were many memorable scenes in this movie, from the time when he mortally wounds and then tries to save the French soldier, the first battle, the end,…- yet the scene which is the most burned into my mind, is the moment when the school kids are whipped into a frenzy by their teachers.
Although I knew that soldiers and war at the time were portrait as heroes and a chance to return in glory, I still was shocked by the intensity of mad joyous frenzy and cheerful optimism the teachers infused into these poor boys.
YES!
This movie made me cry lol
You have to watch the original 1931 version. It sticks closer to the book as well.
The french girls are in german controlled French territory. Life goes on behind the lines for 4 years in northern France and Belgium.
Sad to think their deaths were possibly better than surviving that horror every moment of their lives. Especially being so young. Such a tragedy.
Love the channel ✌️💜
Not Dogtags we call them "Erkennungsmarken"
Based on your comment of liking how a lot of the shots were from behind someone, seeing almost from their perspective, I highly recommend "Son of Saul." A Hungarian film set during the Holocaust.
I watched the original movie and read the book in high school. It made me cry and had me looking at life in a different way.
Such a good anti-war film ,young boys/men so "gung ho" for adventure, so proud to fight for their country and then the reality of the trenches, slaughter ,blood bombs bullets bayonets ,it hits hard, especially the scene with Paul and the French soldier he stabbed in the trench or the pointless final charge , a horrifyingly beautiful film that stays with you long after seeing it.
Fun fact about the tank assault: Those tanks aren't particularly well shielded so small arms fire is actually quite effective compared to using it against modern tanks. The armor is pretty thin and rifle bullets would occasionally penetrate and kill or injure one of the crew. Also the noise inside the tank from all the bullets pinging off was so unbearable especially more inexperienced crews would sometimes panic or at least be much less effective. Tough to communicate with the rest of the crew with all that noise.
They would also fire against These tanks were not very sophisticated. Either you open a hatch and look where you're going, or you are driving blindly. Soldiers would aim for those hatches and vision slits, hoping to shoot through them or at least make it harder for the tank men to see what they were doing.
Have you seen "Hotel Rwanda" and "The Killing Fields"? Extraordinary war movies and true stories.
This movie is such a masterpiece😊
A couple other WW1 suggestions...
Paths Of Glory starring Kirk Douglas... directed by Stanley Kubrick
Galipolli co-starring Mel Gibson... directed by Peter Weir
Thanks for the recommendations!
Also throwing in a recommendation for Come and See - it's a WW2 movie, not WW1, but I think it's way more memorable and devastating than the 2022 All Quiet
Galipoli... Australians and New Zealanders fighting the Ottomans. Crazily good movie.
The music was meant to portray a war machine grinding on and on taking lives constantly.
That is a pretty accurate depiction of how French leadership acted at the end of the war. Nobody will every convince me that WWII in Europe wasn't as much the French's fault as it was the Germans. Because let's face it, not Treaty of Versailles, no ruining the German economy, no extremism taking over Germany.
22:20 even by this point in the war, tanks had still not been invented and used on the battlefield, the first lot of tanks used were by the allies which is why these germans look so surprised when they see one, therefore not knowing it’s capabilities and how to take one down
Take a look at how the British handled this subject with satire - Blackadder Goes Forth. It's the Dr. Strangelove of WWI. Forty years old now and the ending of that series is something to see.
I still think the 1930 version was better and closer to the novel. When Paul goes home on leave to see how bad it was there and confronts his teacher for sending kids to their end.
yes. the most important scene missing in the movie. To contrast the speech about Kaiser, God and Fatherland in the beginning
The scene with Paul stabbing the French soldier was the most impactful and iconic moment in the book. In the book, it was far more heartbreaking and much longer than the movie depicts. Paul becomes trapped in that shell hole for two days and a night with the dying Frenchman. Just hours of listening to the gurgling and moaning. Several occasions he contemplated putting him out of his misery, but each time he’s turned away by the overwhelming guilt and seeing how scared and helpless his dying enemy was. Knowing full well that this man’s agonizing death was on his hands and that there was nothing he could do to save him or ease his pain.
It wasn’t until the second day, the Frenchman finally died and Paul spent the entire day crying over his corpse, begging for forgiveness, and promising to write to his family to provide the closure of their husband/father. When the 2nd night came, Paul took the opportunity to sneak out of the shellhole and crawl back to his own lines. But he was never the same again.
16:00 You'd be surprised how far and how high a body and body parts can fly when explosive rounds drop in. Videos coming out of Ukraine can provide proof of that. The actor playing the German negotiator .. also played Zemo in the MCU and Zoller in Iglourious Basterds.
Cool reaction as always Schmitt & Samantha, you both have a good night
I see your ALL WESTERN and I raise you “ A VERY LONG ENGAGEMENT “-that one’s my favorite war film.
excellent movie
A novel I'd recommend as a companion to All Quiet On The Western Front is "Storm of Steel" by Ernst Jünger. His book is often seen as some kind of counterpoint to All Quiet and it's supposedly anti-war message, but it's worth noting that Erich Remarque never stated that All Quiet was anti-war, merely that it's a veteran's account of his experience in the First World War. "Steel" is the same, taken almost directly from Jünger's war time diary, and it is a haunting read, full of the gore, loss, and horror, but much glory and humanity too.
On another note, I loved this movie quite a bit but I think I will always love the original 1930 version more. Thank you so much for watching such a great film.
In ww1 tanks had a problem that metal on the in side of the tanks would fly at the crew inside if they were shot right so shooting them would have done something properly if the crew didn't have on those metal face mask things
In the beginning scene in the bunker, they are describing a "creeping barrage"
This was a tactic where the attacker hit the opposing side with a massive barrage from dozens or hundreds of guns, (this is why they are hiding in the bunker) then they would incrementally hit ground closer and closer to the enemy lines, as the attacking infantry advances behind the explosions.
Only at the last minute, the guns would stop.
This is why they are in such hurry to get out of the bunker: they know that when the shelling stops, the enemy will be just yards away with grenades and flamethrowers ready to storm their trenches.
I'm glad they went in a totally different direction because on first viewing, you have no idea where its going. The title even works when you think about it as its all quiet on the western front when the movie ends.
There is a WW1 memorial in our village in Germany. 3 members of our family died in WW1 including a woman who was probably a nurse. My great-grandfather on the German side survived but never recovered fully from the war and died when my grandpa was just a small boy.
I loved this and I wanted to recommend a Stanley Kubrick film titled: Paths of Glory.
I really love how even the title of the movie has weight in it and history too.
The title of the book/movie was taken from a German newspaper article during that time. Where the paper was celebrating the fact that the German and Austro-Hungarian Empire has defeated the armies of the Russian empire on the Eastern front. How the Russian army was in full retreat, their soldiers were deserting, there was talk of the Russian emperor Nikola II abdicating from the throne because of political upheaval in Sankt Petersburg.
The article after all that glorious victory talk then ends the article with "All quiet on the Western front", because things were not going well for the Kaisers army in that theather of war, as the book/movie shows. Since they didn't want to tell the people about how bad it was, they just obfuscated the truth by saying since there was no major breakthrough from both sides that everything was fine. They couldn't tell the German public that their once great army was barely holding it together.
This film release has perfect timing to help us appreciate the consequences of the mistakes on the part of leadership. Specifcally thinking about the western front German Colonel, we can see some folks who share many similarities in our "modern" world.
This movie shook me to my core
Very great and emotional reaction the 30s version i saw when I was at school we had to do a essay on it .
If you want a completely different film to cheer you up I think Samantha would like the film called Baby's day out with Joe Pesci.
During this year Oscar ceremony the Academy finally achieve the body of work of german film industry, who was so often dismissed and ignored by Hollywood - in different ways. Das Boot for example six times nominated and no single Oscar or Fitzcarraldo from Werner Herzog or at least Downfall with no nomination for Bruno Ganz terrific actors performance of Adolf Hitler and now this is the biggest success ever in history and collect more Oscars then the entire german film ever in history - but a wise said everything in life balances out at some point 😉
Since declassifying WWII documents and information, Germany has put out some great war films, namely “Downfall” and “Sophie Scholl: The Final Days”. Different war, but similar themes of disillusionment, anti-war sentiment, delusion, etc. Highly recommend both!
My great grandfather was Irish and fought in one of these old wars, probably one of the Boer Wars, the only picture we have of him is family group shot where he's in a wheelchair due to wounds he took in battle apparently, the man feels a mystery to me, the stories of the survivors get lost, the stories of the dead barely get told before they are cut short and then mostly forgotten, the days of remembrance to acknowledge them all is all we got left in most cases, but movies like this just do the job also, they make you think about it and how tragic it was.
The narrative at home in Germany was a far cry from the factual reality of the trenches on the front line. The Germans were sold every day on the lie that the war was going well, and in fact, they were oh so close to victory each day, needing just a little more to make it a reality. It kept morale at home high, and young soldiers enlisted in droves. The truth however was, the lines had barely moved since the war began years prior. Battalions would be lost marching across no man's land in order to take 20 or so yards of ground, only to lose it the next day. Thus it came as a shock to the German people to so suddenly and abruptly be informed that they'd lost the war. Rather than own up to the fact the government and military had been stringing them along for so many years, however, they quickly found scapegoats to blame their sudden "unforeseeable" defeat on. The Jews were a prime target in this. There were already strong seeds of antisemitism within the country, but the defeat of the Germans made it much more rampant, and helped pave the way for a certain dictator some years later.
The book for this film was banned in Germany for years as it is clearly an aversion towards war and what happened in the Great War especially. Worldwide it won countless awards and accolades for its depictions.
"The fat pigs don't carry gas" - soldiers love to give nicknames to things. He's been at the front so long he's learned to tell what kind of artillery shell is incoming by the sound it makes, and knows the big, heavy shells, "fat pigs," are never gas shells.
My favourite war. Not favourite, but you get what Im saying.
The day when fighting for honour, glory, and duty died. As someone said, paraphrased, "theres no honour in dying from a shell shot by a guy over a hill who couldn't even see your face"
This film is pure gold and must be carried over centuries!
you guys gotta check out 'a bridge too far', amazing cast in a true story.... one of THE best ww2 films
But make sure to watch the 50smovie, not the crap they did in the 2000s
50s movie?@@mappes1
I love how you guys were like "There's not much battle so far," right before the terrifying battle with the tanks lol.
Thanks, TBR! Thanks Samantha! 💣 #TBRSchmitt #EdwardBerger #AllQuietOnTheWesternFront