Must-watchWorld War I · Film · 2022
All Quiet on the Western Front
Im Westen nichts Neues
Seventeen-year-old Paul Bäumer enlists with his school friends in 1917 and is thrown into the mud of northern France, while far from the trenches politicians and generals argue over whether to end the war.
Where it happened
Follow the story across 3 places.
Stop 1: Trenches near La Malmaison
Key location
Wearing uniforms taken from dead men, Paul and his friends reach the front, lose one of their own on the first night and befriend the veteran Kat.
Stop 2: German Supreme Army Command, Spa
Weary of the endless losses, Matthias Erzberger presses the High Command to let him seek a ceasefire.
Stop 3: Glade of the Armistice, Forest of Compiègne
In Foch's railway carriage the delegation is handed non-negotiable terms and 72 hours to sign, while Paul's regiment is ordered into one more attack.
What really happened
Edward Berger's version keeps Remarque's soldiers but adds a storyline the novel never had: the armistice talks. On 8 November 1918 the German delegation led by Matthias Erzberger met Marshal Ferdinand Foch in a railway carriage in the Forest of Compiègne and signed the armistice there at 5:00 a.m. on 11 November, to take effect at 11:00.
The film's final attack ordered just before 11:00 is invented, but fighting really did continue until the last minute: about 2,700 men were killed on the last day of the war. The fictional General Friedrichs stands in for the German commanders who resisted the end, while Paul's first posting near La Malmaison recalls the Chemin des Dames sector fought over in 1917.
Where to watch
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Full details
- Original title
- Im Westen nichts Neues
- Directed by
- Edward Berger
- Countries
- Germany
- Languages
- German, French
- Released
- 2022
- Period
- –
- Theaters of war
- Western Europe
- Themes
- Combat
- Politics
