Berlin –
– When the first bullets drop and the first shots are fired in Edward Berger’s war drama “Nothing New in the West”, it’s almost impossible not to think about the current world situation.
When the German director began filming his Netflix-produced epic in the Czech Republic in early 2021, which hits theaters on September 29, the lockdown was underway, but the crisis in Ukraine was still a long way off.
Berger told dpa: “The subject of war is obviously very topical right now. But the film was mainly shot because two and a half years ago we had the feeling that a dangerous state of mind of nationalism was emerging: the The European Union is crumbling, far-right parties are emerging, Orban in Hungary, Trump in America, Brexit – all of a sudden, institutions that we have 70 years of peace, challenged by demagoguery and propaganda. We considered it relevant to show where a sentiment and a language so charged nationalists can quickly bring “.
Berger’s epic illustrates with brutal sobriety the rapid and merciless transformation with which war has engulfed people and regions. While the young soldiers march towards the western front singing euphoric, a few minutes later some of them lie in the trenches, pierced by bullets.
The film also shows: More than 90 years after Erich Maria Remarque’s novel shocked sick post-war Germany, “Nothing New in the West” has hardly lost its explosiveness. Remarque’s denunciation of the brutality with which young people were sent into World War I as cannon fodder led to a ban under Hitler.
Berger brings the material back to Germany
Lewis Milestones’ first film adaptation in 1930 was highly acclaimed outside of Germany and won the Oscar for Best Picture and Best Director. Berger’s adaptation – along with Lesley Paterson and Ian Stokell – brings the material back to its home country for the first time. Now “Nothing New in the West” is the German candidate in the running for the Oscar in the category of Best Foreign Language Film 2023.
“Unlike American or British works, there cannot be a sense of glorification in a German war film,” Berger said. “We are not allowed to tell heroic stories here, it is always about pain, shame, guilt and terror. And of course there is nothing to be proud of in these wars. It was important for us to show this unique German perspective on destruction. and the scars they have left on people and the world “.
And the director doesn’t hold back. The film adaptation of the classic portrays the horrors of World War I from the perspective of a ruthless young soldier.
Names and feelings don’t matter in war
It is a war film from the point of view of the losers, which already shows the brutal battle in the beginning. Within seconds, the muddy ground is littered with corpses. Soldiers take off their dead comrades’ uniforms, ripped clothes end up in a factory, are washed and patched – and passed on to new recruits. One of them, 17-year-old Paul Bäumer (Felix Kammerer), looks at the name tag on his jacket and realizes: “He already belongs to someone.”
“It was too small for him,” lies the officer. Names, it soon becomes clear, have no role in war, as well as age, faces, feelings and, in general, human lives. Paul himself had pretended to be older to join his friends for military service. But Paul, Albert (Aaron Hilmer) and Frantz (Moritz Klaus) quickly reach the cruel reality on the Western front. The naive euphoria is followed by brutal fights and pure desperation when Frantz tearfully admits: “I didn’t think so.”
“The film is a journey of young people, like the main character Paul Bäumer, into the loss of innocence, into the death of their feelings,” says Berger. “And if they don’t die, their innocence dies anyway. The film shows how, in the face of this violence, it slowly but surely becomes a complete killing machine.”
The young actors, the freshest from acting school, offer a majestic and heartbreaking interpretation of the “Lost Generation”, the youth of the First World War. While the gruesome combat is shocking, it’s the blunt, wide-eyed close-ups that move.
Berger stages the world of war in such an artistic way that it looks almost beautiful in its monochrome, with a palette that goes from brown mud to rust red blood to black smoke. The sky is overcast, the icy cold palpable, the desolation palpable. The visually stunning battle scenes are in no way inferior to those of Sam Mendes’ “1917”.
The world of the Prussian generals as a contrast
In contrast to the terror in the trenches, Berger offers an insight into the parallel world of the Prussian generals: instead of hunger and fear, there are full dinners and unrealistic arrogance.
As the liberal politician Erzberger (appropriately chosen by Daniel Brühl) tries to persuade his superiors to sign a ceasefire and surrender, glorious and stubborn decision makers like General Friedrich (Devid Striesow) continue to send German progeny into battle without mercy . Older men fight, younger men die.
Veteran soldiers like Stanislaus Katczinsky (Albrecht Schuch), who takes Paul under his wing, fear the world more after the war. Schuch plays one of the few cordial leaders with moving intensity.
Fears and brutality are beautifully emphasized by Volker Bertelmann’s film music. The staccato-style drum beats, the shrill tones of the industrial synthesizer and the deceptively harmonious melodies underline the horror of what’s happening and vibrate for a long time. Like many war movies, “Nothing New in the West” is hard to watch and even harder to shake, each of its 147 minutes going in depth.
The film hits theaters on September 29, and the Netflix production can be seen on the streaming service from October 28.
© dpa-infocom, dpa: 220926-99-901985 / 3 (dpa)
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