All Quiet on the Western Front (2023)

 

I haven't seen the two previous versions of this movie, but I don't think I should look for them anymore. This one must be the ultimate adaptation of Erich Maria Remarque's monumental novel of the first World War.  The message of the movie, as told in the point of view of a young German soldier, is a universal call to stop any kind of war, because it is indeed senseless in its brutality, and a total waste of millions of lives that could have been spared for humanity's sake - not for the greed and mental aberration of military generals and international rings of oligarchs and politicians. It was relevant before and still is relevant today. The truth of the matter is shocking - that the German soldiers were just as good as the French or American soldiers caught up in the war, and we sympathize with them, and wanted them to survive, because they were victims too, and all they wanted to do at the moment was to go home and be with their loved ones. Of course some of the German soldiers were fanatics of their cause. Most of us could go totally blind and kill because of fanaticism. It is common knowledge. In insecure governments, 'criticism' is the key word to trigger the animalistic wrath of political fanatics. But soldiers were trained to obey. And there was nothing they could do but become the creators of the horrors of war. The artistic integrity of the movie is of the highest level - the cinematography, the screenplay, the acting, and the music all blended together to achieve perfection. It is horrifying and heartbreaking. It isn't meant for the faint-hearted.