Germany’s ‘All Quiet on the Western Front’, a World War I epic with nine Oscar nominations this year, won the Oscar for best international film on Sunday.
The Netflix Inc (NFLX.O) film, directed by Edward Berger, depicts the horrors of trench warfare through the eyes of a young man initially eager to join the fight. It is the first German-language adaptation of a 1928 novel by Erich Maria Remarque, which was also made into an award-winning Best Picture in 1930.
“All Quiet on the Western Front” tells the story of a young man who, poisoned by right-wing political nationalist propaganda, goes to war thinking it’s an adventure, and war is anything but an adventure.” said producer Malte Grunert in his acceptance speech for Best Picture at the BAFTA Awards last month.
The film “is in fascinating dialogue not only with its source material, but with the long history of war and cinema about war and atrocities,” Sight & Sound wrote in its review, saying the film also owes a debt. towards films like “1917”, “Saving Private Ryan” and “Black Hawk Down”.
The film was nominated in nine categories this year, including Best Picture. Only “Everything, Everywhere, All At Once,” with 11 nods, had more.
“All Quiet on the Western Front” beat international nominees “EO” from Poland, “The Quiet Girl”, from Ireland; Belgian film “Fermer”; and “Argentina, 1985” from Argentina.