Netflix has debuted the first official trailer for their upcoming adaptation of All Quiet on the Western Front, hailing from director Edward Berger. Based on the classic novel by Erich Maria Remarque, the film will make its work premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival ahead of a debut in select theaters and on Netflix on October 28. Newcomer Felix Kammerer leads the new film in the role of Paul, starring alongside fellow German actors Albrecht Schuch, Moritz Klaus, Aaron Hilmer, Edin Hasanović, Adrian Grünewald, and Marvel star Daniel Brühl, in the film. Check out the full trailer below.
Netflix’s official description for the film reads as follows: “All Quiet on the Western Front tells the gripping story of a young German soldier on the Western Front of World War I. Paul and his comrades experience first-hand how the initial euphoria of war turns into desperation and fear as they fight for their lives, and each other, in the trenches. The film from director Edward Berger is based on the world renowned bestseller of the same name by Erich Maria Remarque.”
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“I wanted to make a movie that wasn’t preachy or sentimental,” Berger said in an interview in the film’s press notes. “Any director who seriously addresses the topic of war will probably always have the noble intention of making a movie that speaks out against war. When Malte promised me the adaptation of All Quiet on the Western Front, I thought, ‘What a great opportunity!’ Of course, firstly, because the book is world-famous. But above all because I have always had the sense that one feeling will be with us for our whole lifetimes: the feeling of being heir to two wars. In most cases, American or British war movies cannot help but find a positive side in their stories. Travelling on the tube in London in November, I see people wearing poppies in remembrance of the ceasefire. The soldiers returned home after the war and were celebrated as heroes in Trafalgar Square. We’re familiar with similar images from America, in Times Square where people fell into each other’s arms. America was dragged into the war against its will and freed Europe from fascism. That does something to a country’s psyche.”
First published in 1929, the book was first adapted for the big screen one year with the 1930 version of the film going on to win the Academy Award for Best Picture. It was later readapted into a television film in 1979 and has been turned into a radio production as well.
