All Quiet on the Western Front (2022 film)

In 1917, three years into World War I, 17-year-old Paul Bäumer enlists in the Imperial German Army alongside friends Albert Kropp, Franz Müller, and Ludwig Behm. They listen to a patriotic speech by a school official and unknowingly receive uniforms from soldiers killed in a previous battle. After they are deployed in Northern France near La Malmaison, they are befriended by Stanislaus "Kat" Katczinsky, an older soldier. Their romantic view of the war is shattered by the realities of trench warfare on the Western Front, and Ludwig is killed by artillery on the first night.

On November 7, 1918, German State Secretary Matthias Erzberger, weary of mounting losses, meets with German High Command to persuade them to begin armistice talks with the Allied powers. Meanwhile, Paul and Kat steal a goose from a farm to share with Albert, Franz, and another veteran, Tjaden Stackfleet, with whom they have grown close behind the front in Champagne. Kat, who is illiterate, gets Paul to read him a letter from his wife and worries that he will be unable to reintegrate into peacetime society. Franz spends the night with a local French woman and brings back her scarf as a souvenir.

On November 9, Erzberger and the German delegation board a train bound for the Forest of Compiègne to negotiate a ceasefire. Paul and his friends go on a mission to find 60 missing recruits sent to reinforce their unit and discover that they were killed by gas after taking off their masks too soon. General Friedrichs, who opposes the armistice talks, orders an attack before French reinforcements arrive. That night, Erzberger's delegation reaches the Forest of Compiègne, and Paul's regiment is sent to the front to prepare to attack the French lines.

On November 10, Supreme Allied Commander Ferdinand Foch gives the Germans 72 hours to accept the non-negotiable Allied terms. Meanwhile, the German attack takes the French front line after hand-to-hand fighting but is routed by a combined arms counterattack, in which the French use Saint-Chamond tanks to overcome German defenses. Franz is separated from the group, and Albert dies trying to surrender when he is set on fire with a flamethrower. Trapped in a crater in no man's land with a French soldier, Paul stabs him and watches him die slowly, becoming remorseful and asking for forgiveness from his dead body.

Erzberger learns of Kaiser Wilhelm II's abdication and receives instructions from field marshal Paul von Hindenburg to accept the Allied terms. Paul returns to his unit and sees them celebrating the war's imminent end. He finds a wounded Tjaden, who gives him Franz's scarf, indicating Franz has been killed. Paul and Kat bring him food, but Tjaden, knowing that his injured leg will be amputated, chooses to fatally stab himself in the throat with the fork they brought him rather than live as a cripple.

On November 11, Erzberger's delegation signs an armistice set to take effect at 11:00 AM. After learning of the ceasefire, Paul and Kat steal from the farm one last time, but Kat is shot by the farmer's vengeful son and dies before arriving at an infirmary. General Friedrichs, who wants to end the war with at least a German victory out of spite, orders an attack to start at 10:45 AM. Paul kills as many French soldiers as he can before being bayonetted from behind seconds before 11:00 AM. Paul stumbles out into the trenches and marvels at the end of conflict as he dies from his wound. Since the Germans failed to retake some of the land in the final battle, Friedrichs falls into depression and realizes that he achieves nothing in the end.

A short time later, a newly-arrived German recruit that Paul had saved in the combat finds Paul's mud-caked body and picks up Franz's scarf, but not the dog tag that acts as the identifier of dead soldiers. As a result, Paul's death is not recorded.

• Felix Kammerer as Paul Bäumer
• Albrecht Schuch as Stanislaus "Kat" Katczinsky
• Aaron Hilmer as Albert Kropp
• Moritz Klaus as Franz Müller
• Adrian Grünewald as Ludwig Behm
• Edin Hasanovic as Tjaden Stackfleet
• Daniel Brühl as Matthias Erzberger
• Thibault de Montalembert as General Ferdinand Foch
• Devid Striesow as General Friedrichs
• Andreas Döhler as Lieutenant Hoppe
• Sebastian Hülk[8] as Major Von Brixdorf

Writers Lesley Paterson and Ian Stokell spent 16 years bringing their film project to fruition. They initially obtained an option for the film rights to the book in 2006 but faced challenges in securing funding for both the film's production and the annual option renewal, which cost between $10,000 and $15,000. In a resourceful attempt to raise funds, Paterson participated in XTERRA triathlons starting in 2011, ultimately winning the top prize of $20,000. This allowed her to maintain the option by winning five triathlon world championships over the years. Paterson and Stokell estimated that they spent approximately $200,000 to preserve the option during the 16-year period.[9]

The film was eventually announced in February 2020 with Edward Berger directing and Daniel Brühl as part of the ensemble cast.[10] Principal photography began on 9 March 2021 in Prague, Czech Republic, and lasted 55 days. The film cost $20 million.[3][11][12]

Cinematographer James Friend worked closely with another DP, wildlife cameraman Rob Hollingworth, in order to capture the fox sequence in the beginning of the film. "We had to essentially put a pregnant fox in a purpose-built den that was designed for shooting with camera traps. The fox then gave birth to the cubs in this den and that turned into what you saw on camera...The only way to get those shots is basically to raise the cubs in the environment in which you’re filming them, so the mother and the cubs feel completely at home. Then, if a probe lens comes in to get a closeup of a cub or the mom, they’re already used to it by that stage. Essentially, we wanted it to look like a David Attenborough piece and not like a movie."[13]

All Quiet on the Western Front premiered at the 47th Toronto International Film Festival on September 12, 2022. It played exclusively at the Paris Theater in New York on October 7 before expanding to other theatres from October 14.[14] It launched on Netflix, which acquired distribution rights prior to production,[15] worldwide on October 28.[16] From its release on Netflix to March 3, 2023, the film logged over 150 million hours viewed worldwide. Viewership tripled after the film's Oscar and BAFTA nominations, and was on the global Top 10 Non-English Film list for 14 weeks and in the Top 10 Films in 91 countries.[17]

A making-of documentary called Making All Quiet on the Western Front was released on Netflix globally on February 20, 2023.[18] A Collector's Edition Blu-ray release is scheduled for March 28, 2023, in the United States and April 24, 2023, in the United Kingdom.[19]

• All Quiet on the Western Front (1930 film) and All Quiet on the Western Front (1979 film)
• List of submissions to the 95th Academy Awards for Best International Feature Film

• All Quiet on the Western Front at IMDb 
• All Quiet on the Western Front on Netflix
• All Quiet on the Western Front at AllMovie
• All Quiet on the Western Front (2022) at Rotten Tomatoes
• Official screenplay (in English)