‘All Quiet On the Western Front’ – Did Netflix do the famous WWI story justice?

All Quiet On the Western Front is one of those novels I absolutely loved but will likely never read again. I read it in a single sitting while I was the Duty NCO one night. There have been numerous film adaptions of the classic book, including an absolutely brilliant 1930 adaption and a 1979 TV movie. Now that Netflix’s version has been out for a couple of months, we can look at it from a clear perspective.

Netflix’s All Quiet On the Western Front is a two-and-a-half-long anti-war epic film; however, it has differences from the book. If you wish to avoid spoilers, he’s the bottom line up front. All Quiet On the Western Front is a good movie, it’s well shot, with great music and acting, and it’s a beautiful film. It’s not perfect, but worth the time. After that paragraph, the review will get into spoilers, so here’s your final warning.

‘All Quiet On the Western Front’ – Not quite an adaption

I thought the Netflix movie would be an adaptation of the book. The book itself isn’t too tough to adapt to a film and lends itself well to that medium. I don’t believe that a film needs to be a straight adaptation of a book, but it should contain the same themes and purpose. To its credit, the film largely does that, but it misses a lot of beats by not being more faithful.

We only get a brief tease of the patriotic Professor Kantorek in Netflix’s version, and it’s after the boys have already decided to enlist. He gives one rousing speech about pride and patriotism, and glory, and that’s it. The boys are off to war! There is no boot camp scene. We never meet Paul’s family, either.

The boys go from school to the front very quickly. The book ensures you realize that their romantic delusions of war are quickly trounced, and that occurs in the film as well.

In Netflix’s adaptation of All Quiet On the Western Front, Paul never goes home on leave and never faces the alienation he feels from those not fighting in the war. In the book, this theme was very important to me. I, like many, felt that same alienation when I returned home from Afghanistan. It’s also seemingly a universal feeling among veterans, and while it’s mentioned in the film, it’s more told and not seen, which dilutes its impact.

A bit empty

All Quiet on the Western Front Netflix — The movie isn’t quite an accurate adaptation. (Netflix)

The film feels a bit empty. I enjoyed it and appreciated it, but some of the themes ring empty, and some of the loss doesn’t really matter. We get hardly any personal time between the majority of the men. Paul and Kat get plenty of time together, and it does matter. However, whenever a character dies, it means nothing because you haven’t gotten to know the character.

Even Paul is a bit hollow as a character. He’s a young man who becomes hardened by war, but we never know anything else about him. The only character we ever learn anything about is Kat, and when he dies, you actually feel sad.

There is a very important scene in the novel in which Paul kills his first man. It’s in a bomb crater, and he stabs the man and then watches him die. He feels terrible and tries to save him but fails. This scene is in the movie, and it’s absolutely brutal to watch. Felix Kammerer is an excellent actor.

Yet, ultimately the scene rings hollow. Why? Well, we just watched an action scene where Paul killed seven Frenchmen with his rifle and grenades and another with a shovel. It cheapens this ultimately amazing scene.

Also, the action scenes feel out of place. They do show the horror of war but are also pornographic and stylized like a John Wick film.

What did I like?

It might sound like I dislike this movie, but that’s not true and I didn’t hate all the changes. The creators added some scenes of politicians and generals, with Daniel Bruhl as Matthias Erzberger as he negotiates an armistice, which are actually fantastic and, while not accurate to the book, add a good bit to the movie.

We also get scenes with General Friedrichs that establish him as a villain. The film has a villain because it couldn’t establish that the villain should be war and the people at home spreading tales of honor and pride. It is those tales that create ignorance that leads to war and supports it. The government wages war for reasons soldiers in the trenches can’t comprehend. That’s your villain, and we didn’t need a mustachioed jingoistic patriot. The novel and its 1930 film adaption captured that.

With all that said, this is a beautiful film. The sets and scenes are realistic and epic in scale. The trenches are horrid environments and they are portrayed well. The sound design is also amazing with the sound of men screaming, machine guns, and bombs all going off in a chorus of death is captured well. Not to mention the score, which gives anxiety, but in a good way.

Netflix’s All Quiet On the Western Front isn’t a bad movie… it’s just not a good adaption.

Feature Image courtesy of Netflix