Critics and viewers heap praise on Netflix WW1 movie All Quiet on the Western Front

Critics and viewers alike have received high praise for Netflix’s new World War I film All Quiet on the Western Front and called for an Oscar nomination.

The film follows the life of German soldier Paul Bäumer (Felix Kammerer), who, after enlisting with his friends in the army, is confronted with the harrowing realities of war, shattering their hopes of becoming heroes.

Since its premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival, the drama has received critical acclaim and is Germany’s entry for Best International Feature Film for the 2023 Academy Awards.

Now critics and viewers have hailed the WW1 epic as “one of the greatest war films ever made,” while describing it as an “extremely heartbreaking” film.

On Rotten Tomatoes, the German-language film earned an impressive 90 percent audience rating, while the critics’ Tomatometer score was 92 percent.

On Twitter, overwhelmed viewers praised the film and described it as a “must-see,” before calling for an Oscar nomination.

Many people compared it to 2019’s war drama 1917 and 2015’s The Revenant, starring Leonardo DiCaprio, claiming it was better than both epics.

One viewer wrote: ‘I went to All Quiet on the Western Front today. What an incredible movie.

‘Truly brilliant, utterly heartbreaking, and everything I hoped 1917 would be, but it wasn’t. I feel completely exhausted by it. A must-see, even if you’re not interested in WW1.’

Another said: All quiet on the Western Front on Netflix is ​​a masterpiece, probably one of the best war movies ever made. If Oscars really care about foreign films, this one should win all the awards.”

“All Quiet on the Western Front is one of the best of 2022. It is an emotional, stressful, trembling and gloomy film that does nothing,” wrote a third.

Another added: ‘The direction and cinematography are top notch. This movie is The Revenant + 1917. We need more war movies like this. I can’t recommend it enough.’

While a fifth gushed, “So we can all agree that All Quiet on the Western Front needs a cinematic nomination, right?”

The most brutal, abhorrent, artistically beautiful, nihilistic portrait of violence, carnage and the darkest aspects of war I have ever seen. The cinematography is phenomenal,” concluded another.

Elsewhere, critics didn’t shy away from praising the mighty war epic, describing it as one of the greatest war films ever made.

The Daily AwardsCritic Mark Johnson described it as a “timeless and international anti-war classic,” praising the film for its “destructive portrayal of the mental terror of war.”

He wrote: ‘All Quiet on the Western Front is a breathtaking film and a remarkable piece of work.

“Not only is it one of the best films of the year, but it should also be remembered as one of the greatest war films of all time.”

To write for Weekly entertainmentsaid critic Leah Greenblatt: “A film that feels both aesthetically dazzling and full of necessary truths: an anti-war drama that transcends the bombast of propaganda, especially because it is so artfully made and indelible.”

In the meantime, the guardCritic Peter Bradshaw awarded the war epic a lavish four-star review, saying the entire film was powerfully “scented with this grim premonition of death.”

“All Quiet on the Western Front is a substantial, serious work, with urgency and focus and with battlefield scenes whose digital fabrications are skilfully incorporated into the action,” he wrote.

‘It always does justice to its subject, although it may be aware of its own classical status.’

The New York TimeBen Kenigsberg praised the film’s dramatic opening scene, which devastates a clearing of corpses, and commented on the incredible cinematography.

“The movie is meant to bombard you with incessant brutality, and it’s hard not to get upset about that,” he concluded.

All Quiet on the Western Front is a German epic anti-war film based on the 1929 novel of the same name by Erich Maria Remarque – who was burned by the Nazis when they came to power.

It is a poignant account of the reality of WW1 based on his own experiences in the German army and is set largely in the trenches of the Western Front.

In the German-language film, Austrian actor Felix Kammerer stars as Paul Bäumer and Inglourious Basterds star Daniel Brühl also stars.

The original 1930 adaptation of the novel won two Oscars, for Best Picture and Best Director, and was nominated in two other categories.

The novel was also featured in another Hollywood film in 1979, but the new film marks the first German-language adaptation for the screen.