It’s 1917 and wartime in Germany. Paul Bäumer (Felix Kammerer) lies about his age so that he can enlist alongside his friends — all of them very young men filled with romanticised, patriotic notions. The reality of war almost immediately dismantles their exuberance. Soon Paul is thrown into a trench, with little equipment, minimal training, and the swiftly repaired uniform of another soldier on his back. Only the advice of an older veteran prevents him from becoming another statistic on his first day. The first German-language adaptation of Erich Maria Remarque’s classic anti-war novel, All Quiet on the Western Front makes an unflinching examination of the horrors of war.
Screening from a 35mm print.