When the film “All Quiet on the Front” was released in September, there was little indication that it was leading all the competition for Oscar votes. The film about the World War is the first part of the catalog of Netflix, which had more expensive films and will probably go for the Academy Awards, such as the introspective “Bardo”, by Oscar-winner Alejandro González Iñárritu, or “Glass Onion”. . “The Mystery of the Knife” stars stars.
But the German production slowly emerged from the ditch to become one of the main contenders for the Oscars, with nine nominations, including the coveted Best Picture, the first in this category for a German-language film.
“It’s really like a wave of happiness and luck washes over us,” director Edward Berger told AFP ahead of the British Bafta awards ceremony, in which the film won seven awards, including best film. “We are very pleased with this (…) It is a German war movie!”
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Berger’s film is the third screen adaptation of Erich Maria Remarque’s novel about simple German war soldiers, but it is the first film in his native language. Berger says he “didn’t say right away” if he was asked to move another version into English.
The successful expansion of Netflix in the global market, productions subtitled as “Squid Game”, contributed to this pace. The cost of the film, $20 million, was relatively small for the giant outlay, but the most significant of the German film industry. “Five years ago we couldn’t have had the budget we needed to make this movie,” Berger explained.
Ironically, the production was better received at home, where there was some criticism. One of the most questionable points is Berger’s decision to distance himself from the New Remarque, which, with 50 million copies sold worldwide and being banned by the Nazis, maintains a sacred status in Germany.
Unlike the book, this version of the time shows the peace talks with the French leaders. He also omits the part in which one of the war heroes returns home, but returns to civilian life. “I followed the book closely (…) Part of the job of a journalist is to observe and criticize,” Berger says of reviews. “I felt I had to change things (…) why would I do the same thing?”, he added.
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Berger imitates the “physical difference” in the film’s reception inside and outside the house with a terrifying scene near the end in which a character is fatally bayoneted. The director sought to convey the importance of brutality and pain, although the scene was not unexpected given the novel’s reputation and the war’s deplorable death rate. Still, Berger recalls that last year “there was a big gasp from the audience at the Toronto premiere.”
“I was so surprised that he didn’t think about it (…). In Germany that doesn’t happen,” he said. “Like the Germans – in the German war movie – we don’t expect them to be strong. There can be no one who succeeds in this mission. In general, you can’t survive as a soldier,” he said. about her husband will change the world.
Berger would not write the policy out of a duty of pity. The veil, like the anti-new war, embraces no flag. “We wanted to do the best for the German, but not for the country,” he said. “I am not a good man. Germans have a difficult relationship with piety, pride, honor, history or country. No food with that.”
Shooting the film in German “removes the stamp of truth” and deepens the sense of “shame and responsibility and guilt” many Germans feel about their history, Berger said. Whatever happens at the Oscars on April 12, “All Quiet Go Ahead” has already made an indelible impression on the American Academy voters.
A safe contender for Best Picture, a strong contender for Best Picture, with its nine nominations, one missed record for a non-English language film. “Would we be surprised? Sure,” Berger said. “I didn’t expect anything like this.”
Source: AFP
