All Quiet on the Western Front is among the most poignant and important works in the history of genre fiction; first published by German novelist Erich Maria Remarque in 1928, the original anti-war novel struck powerful chords with readers, many of them surviving soldiers, all over the world. It wasn’t long after that pre-Code Hollywood acquired filming rights to the work, putting out an equally-harrowing depiction of the plights faced by World War I-era soldiers that earned it two Academy Awards for Outstanding Production and Best Director in Lewis Milestone.
Now, Netflix is looking to add its name to a long, important history with its own, German-language iteration of All Quiet on the Western Front, and the chilling new trailer seems to promise that they will pull no fewer punches than its predecessors did.
Directed by Edward Berger (Your Honor) and starring Felix Kammerer as Paul Bäumer, All Quiet on the Western Front seeks to bring the abhorrent, devastating realities of war to modern audiences. When a young Paul, filled with dreams of glory and patriotism that he believes would come with being a soldier, lies about his age to enlist in the German military in World War I, he quickly realizes that the plight of a soldier is not a glorious one; rather, it’s one of palpable terror, endless nightmares, and the ever-present threat of becoming a statistic at any given moment.
It’s the third adaptation of Remarque’s novel, with the original 1930 having taken advantage of a Hays Code-less Hollywood to present such realities without fear of censorship. A Golden Globe-winning television film adaptation was released nearly 50 years later in 1979, while Netflix’s adaptation will be the third and latest attempt, and also the first film adaptation of the story to come out of Germany. It will also serve as the German submission for the Best International Feature Film at the 95th Academy Awards next year.
All Quiet on the Western Front will release to Netflix on Oct. 22