TV tip: This war film masterpiece is even more memorable than its Netflix remake

The anti-war film “Nothing New in the West” remained at the top of the most-watched films on Netflix in many countries for weeks. And then Germany’s Oscar entry won four Academy Awards in spring 2023 (including the trophy for Best International Film). The film was nominated in five other Oscar categories.

All of this is also granted to the anti-war film, which received a good 3.5 stars from Björn Becher in the FILMSTARTS review. What is particularly pleasing for the author of this article is that in the wake of this Netflix hit, the strong, first adaptation of the material (for which we give it the full 5 stars, by the way) is receiving renewed attention. Same on TV: The classic anti-war film is showing today, November 20, 2023r „nothing new in the West“from 8:15 p.m. on arte.

“Nothing new in the West”: Immersive today, intense back then

“The original was better” is a phrase that is used excessively in remake reviews, and so it should simply be avoided here. Especially since the first film adaptation of “All Quiet in the West” and the current Netflix adaptation of the influential novel by Erich Maria Remarque demonstrate their strengths in different areas.

The aspect of the material that warns about war, the propaganda that glorifies it and the adrenaline rush that ignores atrocities almost screams out for a new film. Of course, film fans who are open to bygone cinema decades can continue to be completely captivated by the award-winning classic from 1930.

“Nothing new in the West”: The novel on Amazon*

But let’s not kid ourselves: the immediacy of this film adaptation no longer has the effect on most of today’s film audience as expected, but rather has a distancing effect due to the black and white photography and mono sound. For this reason alone, the remake has a raison d’être that it exploits skilfully: the scenes at the front rely on enormous immersion in order to capture the hideousness and senselessness of war in a direct, dirty way.

This has a lasting effect and largely avoids the pitfalls that many exciting and unfortunately entertaining war films fall into. Nonetheless: The original “All Quiet in the West” film variant by Lewis Milestone has elements that ensure that it bites into the memory even more vehemently, and a key reason why it continues to be an outstanding contribution to the genre.

Because “Nothing New in the West” from 1930 captures with sharp observation the perfidious mechanisms that lead people to happily volunteer for military service. There is far too little opposition from society during war, and even the suffering, abused soldiers rarely bring themselves to simply stop killing. The anti-war drama shows the brainwashing and self-deception of those involved, with a sharply observed, captivating coherence, that the first “Nothing New in the West” film leaves an even stronger lasting impression than its successful, current remake.

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This is a revised republication of an article that previously appeared on FILMSTARTS.

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